Euan McGrory: Queensferry Crossing delays still frustrating drivers

It seems hard to believe that it is only a year since the new Queensferry Crossing opened.

Drivers who use it will feel like they have already spent an interminable amount of time on it. While a key promise behind the new bridge was that it would do away with much of the traffic misery faced when crossing the Forth, the experience so far has been disappointing. Hold-ups remain a regular feature of life especially for commuters heading in and out of the Capital.

There is reason for optimism though. Once snagging work is out of the way, there are genuine grounds for expecting an improvement.

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The impressive engineering achievement of the new bridge means that it has remained open to traffic on many windy days when the old one would have closed. What is more, it has shown that when the inevitable breakdowns and other incidents take place on the bridge, traffic returns to normal far faster.

What is frustrating is that the biggest cause of on-going delays appears to be down to contractors rushing to complete snagging work to meet their contractual deadline - and presumably a financial penalty.

Perhaps things would be different if the contract had included a measure based on driver satisfaction as well.