Fife Council is seeking an assurance from the Scottish Government that it will fund measures to prevent traffic chaos while the new Forth crossing is being buil.
Around £7.5 million is needed for a park and choose interchange at Halbeath, which the local authority hopes will cut down congestion by encouraging car owners to leave their vehicles behind in favour of public transport during construction.
The council is confident it will secure government funding for the interchange as part of the £2.3 billion bridge project.
The new crossing at Queensferry will soon start to turn into a reality, with the first building work set to get under way next year and a scheduled opening date of 2016, subject to the Scottish Parliament’s approval of the Forth Crossing Bill.
The council’s head of transportation Dr Bob McLellan is concerned the associated roadworks will cause a major bottleneck for Fife commuters using the existing bridge and would like to see the Halbeath park and choose site up and running by 2012/13.
He said, “The council is seeking an assurance that funding can be put in place for a new park and ride at Halbeath. The worst-case scenario would be people who currently use Ferrytoll going back to using their car because they believe there is disruption at Ferrytoll due to construction works.
“By getting a new park and ride at Halbeath we could get people out of their cars earlier.
“With about 26% of cross-Forth travellers approaching the bridge from Rosyth/Dunfermline and about 51% from the north and east of Halbeath, intercepting travellers at the proposed park and choose sites at Rosyth and Halbeath would significantly help to counter the predicted increases in traffic flows, especially at Ferrytoll interchange and the adjacent park and ride site.”
The council has also asked the government to establish a permanent dedicated bus lane across the existing road bridge, with the aim of providing a quicker link for commuters using the park and ride facilities once the new crossing is complete.
Mr McLellan said, “The £7.5 million is only 0.3% of the cost of the total Forth crossing project.
“We are seeing this as a great opportunity to integrate a dedicated public transport corridor for buses all the way back from Halbeath.”
The environment, enterprise and transportation committee welcomed the progress made to date on the new Forth crossing.