The Forth Road Bridge is totally closed...

[cashewnutty]

...what a nightmare that is going to be.

I live in Fife and DH works in Edinburgh. He gets the train but now they will be mobbed. Not good for businesses as a whole. The Kincardine Bridge will be mobbed and the roads around there are not great.

I hope they fix it soon.

They are relaxing some parking restrictions at stations. The abuse going on in Facebook is disgusting.

HGVs need to keep moving otherwise no food in your supermarkets, no online deliveries etc.

I have no idea why anyone has to be abusive about it. They have found serious structural defects in a bridge that carries 60 000 vehicles daily. We really don't need another bridge disaster. Yes it is a pain and yes it is going to affect people's work/holiday/delivery plans but they wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't needed. Honestly, do some people thinks the bigwigs are doing this for funzies?

Some interesting stuff on here for those with FB:

www.facebook.com/AndrewCarrieTrafficAndTransportation/

It's a really terrible situation and we just have to make the best of it. Better a few weeks of misery than a permanently broken bridge.

I do feel so sorry for everyone who will be on the diversions as of tomorrow, I know all of them like the back of my hands - they are twisty country A-roads that are not in the greatest of condition, fairly crap to drive at the best of times but chock-full of cars they will be awful. But there's no alternative I guess.

Saturday was terrible as the diversions had diversions due to the weather. I was at the Keir roundabout early in the morning and all the lorries who'd come down the A9 instead of using the kincardine were turned away as the M9 was shut going south, some of them were just parking round the roundabout :( Then the diversion from that became blocked by a RTA and now some local roads are flooded but at least M9 is open. it's a bit crap :(

I had no idea till this that the intention was for the frb to be just used for public transport after the QFB opens. So, no quicker for drivers anyway.
I do not like the fact that the bridge is now in the hands of a private company, though I doubt that has anything to do with these issues.

Yes, and the new bridge is being build using steel from China. No wonder the steel works in Glasgow have gone bust causing redundancies.

It's not easy to find in MSM, but this from WoS February 10, 2012...

"Johann Lamont had chosen the new Forth Bridge as her line of attack, and angrily demanded to know why filthy foreigners (in this case, the Chinese) had been awarded what she called an "£800m steel contract" to produce the materials for the crossing. Salmond explained that no such thing had happened, noting that the steel accounted for only 5-10% of the sum quoted and that there were no Scottish companies industrially capable producing the type of steel that would be provided by the Chinese. The actual value of that element of the contract, he pointed out, was somewhere between £20m and £60m, rather than the £800m Lamont had claimed.

Lamont wasn't to be deflected by anything so basic and trivial as being utterly wrong. She reasserted that the Scottish Government was "spending £800m on steel" and that "not a single job has been created in Scotland" as a result. Salmond got back to his feet, admonished Lamont for not listening to the previous answer, and added that procurement rules cited by the previous Labour FM Jack McConnell meant that contracts couldn't simply be given to Scottish companies regardless of other tenders.

But it was to no avail, as she ignored the points and rambled on at enervating length about how dastardly foreign workers were profiting from Scotland's bridge before Salmond comprehensively reiterated the hard facts – Lamont's numbers were wildly wrong to the point of comedy (perhaps Andy Kerr had done her research), not a single Scottish steel fabrication company had tendered to supply the core steel for the bridge because there WERE no Scottish steel fabrication companies, and that all contracts had by law to be awarded competitively."

Emphasis mine. The use of Chinese steel has nothing to do with redundancies in Glasgow.

We have barely any steelworks left, cheers Thatcher, there was no bid from Scottish companies.

news.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/hi/scotland/newsid_9693000/9693393.stm if you prefer Aunty Beeb.

Parking at Inverkeithing is going to be horrendous. Usually I get the train from further up the circle but last time I needed to leave the car at inverkeithing there weren't any spaces in any of the three station car parks by 8am and that was just from the regular commuters.

Also think residents in Dalmeny aren't going to be best pleased as almost everyone I've spoken to (who has to drive for work) has come up with the plan of leaving a car in Dalmeny and just getting the train across the bridge and driving from there. I anticipate a lot of angry residents unable to park in their streets.

Good luck to everyone commuting tomorrow. And remember we're all in the same boat/train carriage/11 mile tailback; try not to be an arse hole.

The residents of dalmeny could offer their driveways to help out as could other houses near train stations. People need to think about the bigger picture.

I am on the train now and staying with a friend for the next two nights yo get all my Edinburgh work done, Ans reschedule everything else to over this side of the bridge.

It will be chaos, but better that than a bridge in the forth rather than over it...

I have run over the bridge in a race, and it's quite a good (if a little blowy) view...
I would recommend a wander over it if you ever have the chance.

The residents of dalmeny could offer their driveways to help out as could other houses near train stations. People need to think about the bigger picture.

And where are the residents from Dalmeny going to park their own cars while lending their driveways out to people?

Not everyone fills their drives. God sake. Think about the bigger picture and help people out where you can is what I am saying. My drive takes 4 cars. We use 2 spaces.

My DH is on his way on the train to Edinburgh right now. He booked a hotel for two nights. He said the car park at Leuchars was very full which is unusual for a Sunday night. The train was also busy. Lots of people staying in Edinburgh I guess.

I'm not saying don't look at the bigger picture, just wasn't sure where all the cars were meant to go - It's not like the people will be wanting to use the driveways during the day while locals are away (the usual way that rent a driveway works), they want to use them at the same time as the locals do, hence the question. Have you posted on the FRB page offering your driveway?

Whilst obviously the people in Fife are bearing the brunt of issues, there is an impact on other communities too. The extra carriages for the trains are coming from routes all around so other trains will be crowded too. Our local work bus service are having to leave half an hour earlier to ensure that people get in on time and i'm sure that will have an impact on staff childcare as well.

The failure to maintain the bridge is having a far reaching impact across Scotland.

The option to stay in Edinburgh in a hotel will soon become difficult and expensive as it gets closer to Christmas but hopefully some people will have holidays so not need to travel so much.

I have to commute from Fife to Stirling. I fear my usual peaceful trundle cross country along small winding country roads is going to be a snarled up nightmare with all the diverted traffic.
Might have to try and find a bed in Stirling for some nights

I'm in stirling but you don't want to stay in my shit tip at the moment.

...and apart from that we were cut off from civilisation all day today by flooding :(

I live on the A977 which is the road to Kincardine from Perth not Fife. I live in a remote bit with no public transport so my drive would be useless.

The traffic going past us since this is significantly increased though.

We've had a day of no traffic going past as we've been cut off with floods on either side. The little local shop was stripped bare.

FRB shut and Tay Bridge also closed due to high winds.

Welcome from the Isle of Fife!

I got a train from Dunfermline to Edinburgh at 7.07am today. By the time it left Dunfermline Town it was already packed. And it ended up running late as there was an additional service in front of it. Got me here though.
Was very strange going past the completely empty motorway and bridge.

No problems for me getting in either. I got the train at 7.45, it was a few minutes late but there were loads of seat and picked up everyone comfortably along the way. I hate to praise scotrail but have to admit I was impressed with them this morning.

Let's see what the commute home has in store. Apparently there is to be a queuing system in place at Waverly to ensure there is still room for passengers to board at Haymarket.