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The Bressay Bridge


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Do you think we should build a bridge to Bressay?  

118 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think we should build a bridge to Bressay?

    • Yes
      32
    • No
      70
    • We need more information
      12
    • Don't know/don't care
      8


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So in my opinion it would only be your highsided vehicles suchs as artics that would be stopped more often than not.. but of the top of my head that si 1 maybe 2 vehicles a day.. which maybe go up to 5 - 10 depending on what growth occurs on bressay after a fixed link is in place.

 

 

I think i'd be safe in saying the figure would be higher than that seasonally, as the artics carrying offal from the Shetland Catch all go to Bressay. In the peak season the ferry was on charter to run until the small hours of the morning to allow for the volume of Catch traffic.

 

Either fixed link would surely benefit the Catch.

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So in my opinion it would only be your highsided vehicles suchs as artics that would be stopped more often than not.. but of the top of my head that si 1 maybe 2 vehicles a day.. which maybe go up to 5 - 10 depending on what growth occurs on bressay after a fixed link is in place.

 

 

I think i'd be safe in saying the figure would be higher than that seasonally, as the artics carrying offal from the Shetland Catch all go to Bressay. In the peak season the ferry was on charter to run until the small hours of the morning to allow for the volume of Catch traffic.

 

Either fixed link would surely benefit the Catch.

 

again guessing here.. but i presume peak season is may to july?? when in reality apart from freak occurences the bridge would never be closed.. no idea when peak season is tho.

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Without fail a bridge will go over budget.. I have never heard of a project similar to this that hasn't gone over budget.. but the same goes for a tunnel..

LPA use the reasoning that the bridge will go over the £22.4 million but don't accept that the same is very highly likely to happen with the tunnel.

 

Even if a tunnel and a bridge were both valued at £22.4 million and both were built ( for what ever reason ) I would place a fairly hefty bet that the tunnel would still end up costing more than the bridge.. purely because of the number of unknowns greatly out weigh those unknowns related to a bridge.

 

Interesting that the SIC now accept that they cannot build a bridge for their capped cost of £18.9million, even before the 'hidden' costs are added.

 

'Iconic' structures certainly come at a price !!

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Where have you been for the last 2 years Stirrer..

 

Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 11:02 pm Post subject: A Bridge too far.

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Also a bridge too many. The bridge cost was to be capped at £17,000,000 but it went to

£19,000,000. Now it has reached £22,500,000

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Where have you been for the last 2 years Stirrer..

 

Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 11:02 pm Post subject: A Bridge too far.

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Also a bridge too many. The bridge cost was to be capped at £17,000,000 but it went to

£19,000,000. Now it has reached £22,500,000

 

So the 'capped' figure just conveniently rises to be whatever the cost is to build the bridge !!

 

Not really a 'cap' after all then.

 

And there was me thinking the original 'cap' was set at the figure, which if any higher, would mean the ferry option was cheaper.

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Where have you been for the last 2 years Stirrer..

 

Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 11:02 pm Post subject: A Bridge too far.

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Also a bridge too many. The bridge cost was to be capped at £17,000,000 but it went to

£19,000,000. Now it has reached £22,500,000

 

So the 'capped' figure just conveniently rises to be whatever the cost is to build the bridge !!

 

Not really a 'cap' after all then.

 

And there was me thinking the original 'cap' was set at the figure, which if any higher, would mean the ferry option was cheaper.

 

Surely the cap can fluctuate by the funds available at the time.

 

ferrys IMO wil never be cost effective or atleast until the cost out runs the life span of the bridge/tunnel

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Stirrer wrote

And there was me thinking the original 'cap' was set at the figure, which if any higher, would mean the ferry option was cheaper.

 

Yes I had the distinct impression that the council had decided to build a bridge with a price cap of £19 million or whatever. The only honourable thing for the council to do now is to allow the port authority to get on with the dredging work which matters more to Shetland's prosperity than a bridge or a tunnel. Sometime next year the new council might then take a fresh look at the project. As for external funding surely Europe, London or Edinburgh can be asked to help........or maybe the new council might just decide that the status quo was a better option.

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As for external funding surely Europe, London or Edinburgh can be asked to help........or maybe the new council might just decide that the status quo was a better option.

 

As I understand it there is funding available from Europe for a bridge/tunnel but that it came with a timeframe but not sure what that timeframe is - it could have already run out....

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I have ridden across the Dartford bridge in high winds on a motorbike and driven over it in a 16 ton truck.

 

Both experiences made me clench somewhat.

 

Logically though the only sensible solution is a tunnel. It will be so much cheaper in the long run. What for instance is the cost in wage bills alone to keep the ferries pottering back and forth?

 

A bridge will just end up closed too often.

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There is an alternative to a bridge or a tunnel or even the status quo and that is a reduced ferry service. All of us living in/on Shetland have to accept that the connections to the UK mainland are a handful of expensive flights and one overnight boat. Foula manages with one boat in a blue moon. Skerries folk do not commute to work.

 

Not saying that's how it should be for Bressay but surely a responsible council should be considering all options and producing comparative costings for all those options.

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There is an alternative to a bridge or a tunnel or even the status quo and that is a reduced ferry service.

 

Not saying that's how it should be for Bressay but surely a responsible council should be considering all options and producing comparative costings for all those options.

 

The SIC could write a long term plan; how much of each of the below options could they afford given a £x million budget for the next 50 years for transport to Bressay:

1) Bridge plus maintenance plus (?compensation to LPA for loss of trade if they are unable to dredge due to the bridge)

2) Tunnel plus 50 years maintenance

3) Ferries for 50 years (would a chain ferry offer best value for money?)

 

So the sum allocated for the link to Bressay would be fixed. The variable would be which option would offer the best service for the fixed sum of money.

 

Then let the folk living in Bressay have a referendum about which option they would prefer.

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