Forth Road Bridge closed indefinitely due to faulty steel
It was built in 1964 and carries about 24 million cars a year, far more than it was designed to take
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The Forth Road Bridge is being closed indefinitely after a fault was discovered in its steelwork.
The bridge, which was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the US when it was built in 1964, carries about 24 million cars a year, far more than it was designed to take.
The southbound carriageway was closed on Tuesday evening after a problem was picked up during a routine inspection. Traffic had been reduced to two lanes, one in each direction, but the decision was then taken to close it completely from midnight on Thursday.
Transport Scotland said: “The Forth Road Bridge is to shut following the discovery of defective steelwork earlier this week.
“The decision has been taken as a precautionary step after inspections carried out earlier this week showed a fault in the bridge steelwork.
“The results of earlier inspections will continue to be analysed overnight.”
The closure means traffic travelling along the main route to and from Edinburgh and northern Scotland will have to divert about 15 miles west to use the Kincardine Bridge.
It is not yet clear how long the bridge will be closed.
Scottish Transport Minister Derek Mackay told BBC Scotland: "In light of the latest information and advice, we've been recommended to close the Forth Road Bridge.
"The reason for that is that further traffic will cause further damage to the bridge, having identified the fault, therefore the bridge has to be closed.
"I know that that causes significant disruption and I thank travellers and drivers for their patience but we have to close the bridge for reasons of safety to undertake investigation and repairs, and therefore I would advise the travelling public to avoid travelling if they were going to use the Forth Road Bridge tomorrow."
A ScotRail spokeswoman said the firm was looking at putting on more trains or extra carriages.
“We are working to see what we might be able to do to add more capacity to what is already an extremely busy route,” she said.
However she warned that “trains are likely to be incredibly busy at peak travel times, so if you don't need to travel, then it's probably best that you don't”.
Work is underway to build a replacement, which will be the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world.
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