The Forth Road Bridge is to be completely closed to all traffic in both directions for the foreseeable future, with no end in sight to the transport chaos of recent days.
Transport Scotland confirmed that the crossing was to be closed from midnight for repairs to structural faults and would remain closed for at least 24 hours – this after defects were discovered in steelwork on Tuesday.
And with bad weather forecast over the next day or so, the closure is expected to last well into the weekend – throwing many people’s travel plans into disarray.
Inspections have been ongoing since Tuesday and officials had earlier spoken of putting a “temporary fix” in place before longer term repairs were undertaken.
However, it is understood ministers decided that closing the route altogether would protect the bridge from more damage and potentially avoid a much longer closure.
Transport minister Derek MacKay said: “Our expert opinion is that the bridge should be totally closed so that work can be undertaken to remedy the bridge.
“If we allow further traffic it will cause further stress to the bridge.
“So I would advise anyone who normally travels on the bridge to avoid travel if possible. We will look to mitigate in terms of other forms of transport.”
For more on this story, read Friday’s Courier.