Scotland Seeks New Span
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cotland’s regional government in December approved plans to build a mutli-span cable-stayed road bridge over the Firth of Forth waterway at an estimated cost of up to $8.4 billion. With two 650-m-long cable-stayed main spans, the crossing near Edinburgh will augment and ultimately replace the 43-year-old adjacent suspension bridge, which is overused and suffering from cable corrosion. The new crossing will include a provision for mass transit in the future. A design team will be named soon, and construction lasting 66 months is expected to start in 2011. Scottish officials chose the cable-stayed option over a second suspension bridge, an excavated tunnel or a submerged-tube tunnel.