Bridge between Scotland and Ireland

[Jethro_uk]

Apparently it's on.

How long before it's not ?

Days, weeks, months or years ?

I reckon this time 2021 it'll be long forgotten.

[Pancho]

I think it will run for quite a while.

My guess is it is being offered to assuage the negative sentiment that occurs when NI finds it is no longer as much a part of the union as it thought it was.

The project can only safely be dropped after Irish reunification.

[charles]

problem is is might need a very long span. theer aren't convenient rocks in the path, - just a very deep trench

[Andy Burns]

with rather a lot of explosives dumped in it ...

[polygonum_on_google]

I see: One MP told the BBC a bridge could make travel "less expensive and probably more certain".

Just who would think paying off a debt of at least twenty billion could make it less expensive than the ferries?

You can get an awful lot of ferry places running for an awful long time for that much money. And there will be all sorts of questions about a government project wiping out the ferry companies' business.

And if you totally wipe out ferries, you end up with a single point of failure. (If you don't, then quite possibly the amount of traffic would be far too low to dream of paying it off.)

[Tim Streater]

To the extent that someone is going to look at it. Whatever that may mean.

[T i m]

According to Boris?

Probably longer than the garden bridge but not short enough to have not wasted millions of our money.

He can probably drag it out till he get's chucked out so who knows?

Let's hope, unless it means we can still get potatoes easily as they are cheap and filling if you are hungry ... ;-(

But hey, put a banner on the side of a bus showing a picture of the bridge, a rainbow and a pot of gold under it and enough of the great unwashed will vote it though ... <sigh>

Cheers, T i m

p.s. Will that mean there will have to be a customs post on the middle of the bridge?

[Chris Hogg]

It'll obviously get the full support of the IRA bombers then!

[Dave Liquorice]

Lots of construction/consultantcy firms being paid lots of taxpayers money. I wonder who'll be shareholders or non-executive directors...

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Can you imagine? In the wind like wot we just had, most of our bridges were closed. It would also need to be high enough for shipping g to get under it. I don't see it being viable.

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Was that a flying pig I heard go over? Brian

[Tim Streater]

Unlikely to wipe it out. If you're an Irish lorry in the South-East of Ireland, wouldn't you rather get a ferry to Fishguard, wake up there next morning nice and refreshed, and then drive to Dover? Or would you drive all the way to Belfast or wherever, then over the bridge, and oh look I'm at Stranraer and then it's a good 500 miles to Dover?

[Martyn Barclay]

And what happens if the Scots vote for independence, & join the EU? With NI still part of the UK, wouldn't there have to be a customs border post?

[Andy Burns]

A few raised sections for shipping should solve that one.

[Bob Eager]

It's another dead cat. Wonder what he's really up to?

It's an engineering nightmare, what with the depth and the uncharted munitions.

[Bob Eager]

By that time there'll be a unified Ireland. And Wales will be trying to leave.

[Bob Eager]

Full of explosives.

Johnson couldn't even get a bridge from London to London.

[Pent]

How much is HS2 going to cost the taxpayer and users?

[Steve Walker]

Bridges mainly only close to high-sided vehicles. Cars and vans usually carry on crossing, but at reduced speed.

Ferries and planes tend to stop completely.

It would also need to be high enough for shipping g to get under it.

Worse than that, high and very wide spans, as you'd not want large ships heading for narrow spans in severe weather.

SteveW

[Andy Burns]

Something like the Tampa Skyway bridge is unnerving enough to drive over without severe weather ...