Forth Crossing will get a name 24 | 03 | 2011

THE NEW FORTH crossing could, after all, be given a name. That statement in itself may well sound strange, but prior to the start of the Scottish Government election Transport Minister Keith Brown had stated there were no plans to change the name from its project title, the Forth Replacement Crossing.

"The Forth Replacement Crossing" — it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco?

So literally hours before the election campaign kicked into gear, Mr Brown completed a fairly sizeable — but logical — U-turn by confirming plans to find a new name for the bridge, which is due to open in 2016.

As you'd expect, already there are a number of names in the running, including the Queensferry Bridge, the Forth Dimension, the Third Forth Bridge (after the adjacent Forth Bridge and Forth Road Bridge) and the Fifth Forth Bridge (after those two and the two bridges upstream at Kincardine).

"This government recognises that finding an appropriate name for the new bridge is a matter of considerable interest both locally and nationally," Brown, who said details of the naming process for the £1.4 billion-£1.6bn project were likely to be announced next year, explained.

"While we should remember the Forth Replacement Crossing is the name of the project to deliver the bridge, not the name of the completed bridge, I would like to have an open and transparent process for deciding the name that allows all of Scotland to be involved."

However, not to be outdone, Mid Scotland and Fife Labour candidate John Park, whose call for a naming competition was rejected by Mr Brown in February, ridiculed the move.

"Keith Brown had just a few hours left before parliament dissolves, and performed a last-minute somersault," Park said. "Maybe he didn't want his legacy to be as the man who refused to name the biggest construction project in history. If he had really wanted to let the public have their say, he would have agreed months ago, not in these final hours."

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Jim McGill