Politician's Opinion

It may be the season of goodwill but one issue that needs addressing is the traffic congestion on the approach to the Queensferry Crossing, which is a cause of great frustration for motorists, particularly in Fife.

I recently raised the matter of congestion for motorists approaching the Queensferry Crossing from the Fife side with Transport Minister Michael Matheson at the Scottish Parliament, but was very disappointed to learn that no talks have taken place between the Scottish Government and Fife and Lothian Councils to look into ways to tackle rush-hour congestion.

Figures released by Transport Scotland emphasise how the problem of congestion is actually getting worse, with nearly 28 million vehicles having travelled over the Queensferry Crossing in the 12 months to October. This was 3.9% more than in the same period the previous year.

These statistics compound the problem faced by thousands of motorists, with the total number of vehicles crossing the Queensferry Crossing amounting to 27.73 in the 12 months to October. This compares to 26.68 million the year before and 26 million a year on the Forth Road Bridge in 2014.

As many readers will be aware, motorists from Fife are faced with lengthy tailbacks on the approach to the Queensferry Crossing on a daily basis – a very disappointing and frustrating situation that many of them probably didn’t anticipate when the new bridge opened.

This is why I raised the matter of congestion for motorists approaching the Queensferry Crossing from the Fife side with the Transport Minister Michael Matheson but find it hard to believe that no talks have taken place between the Scottish Government and Fife and Lothian Councils to look into ways to resolve rush-hour congestion.

The statistics released by Transport Scotland on the number of vehicles travelling over the Queensferry Crossing emphasise how many vehicles use it and how this has led to long periods of congestion, which are particularly bad for motorists on the southbound approach waiting to cross at peak-time traffic in the morning.

I was very concerned when the Transport Minister told me no discussions had taken place between the Scottish Government and Fife and Lothian Councils. He eventually did concede that talks have been planned to take place between Transport Scotland and Fife Council in January, but I feel this such a serious issue that it should have been looked at well before now.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart policy and research director, said the Transport Scotland figures are “indicative” of a failure of Scottish Government transport policy to reduce car use, and I agree with him.

This is yet another example of how the Scottish Government has taken its eye off the ball, as the traffic congestion problem faced by Fife motorists seems to have simply switched from one bridge to another'.