60 Years of the Forth Road Bridge: Past, Present & Future

Chris Tracey MBA, CEng, MICE

Chris is a Chartered Civil Engineer, specialising in the management of major highway infrastructure in the civil engineering sector.

He has over 40 years’ experience in Civil Engineering. Following training as a Structural Engineering Technician in Glasgow, Chris emigrated to the USA in early 1980, working on the design and construction of steel structures.

Chris returned to the UK in 1989 and worked as an Engineer on the Dartford Crossing (QE2 Bridge) Project, he has been involved on many major highway construction projects including the widening of the Rodenkirchen Suspension bridge in Cologne and the Tower Strengthening Scheme on the Forth Road Bridge (FRB). From 1999 Chris was employed as Engineering Manager at FRB, overseeing many rehabilitation projects including the main cable acoustic monitoring and dehumidification, and the viaduct bearing replacement.

In early 2015 he was appointed as Bridges Manager by Bear Scotland Ltd, on the 4G NW contract, having responsibility for over 1300 structures including Kessock and Skye bridges in the Scottish Highlands.
In August 2020, Chris moved to the SE NMC contract as Unit Bridges Manager, when Bear were appointed as Operating Contractor for this unit by Transport Scotland. Under this post he was responsible for some of Scotland’s most iconic structures including Forth Road Bridge and Queensferry Crossing.

Chris recently joined Beaver Bridges Ltd as Director for Scotland; Beaver Bridges are a market leading bridge design manufacturer based in Shrewsbury. They won the coveted Bridge Contractor of the year 2024 award, at the recent New Civil Engineer award ceremony in London.

Dr Hazel McDonald FICE

Hazel has been immersed in the management of highway structures for more than 30 years, nearly 19 of which she has spent with Transport Scotland. 

After gaining a PhD in civil engineering at the University of Strathclyde with a thesis on temperature effects in concrete box-girder bridges, she worked on bridge design, inspection and assessment at Mott MacDonald. She followed that with roles at Cumbria County Council and Capita Symonds focusing on design, monitoring and maintenance. 

At Transport Scotland, Hazel leads an 18-strong team managing the inspection, maintenance and improvement of trunk road structures. She also chairs the UK Bridges Board.

Robert McCulloch FIHE, MCIHT

I joined the Edinburgh office of W A Fairhurst & Partners as Trainee Technician in July 1984. Gaining a HNC in Civil Engineering I was involved in the design and construction of major infrastructure projects included the A7 and A68 Dalkeith Bypasses, the M8 Claylands to Hermiston Gait and the Dunfermline Eastern Expansion.

My first experience of the Forth Road Bridge was in autumn 1985 when I was involved with the site surveys for the assessment that was undertaken by Fairhurst. Following this, I was involvement with various other projects on the Bridge over the years culminating in acting as resident engineer for the southbound carriageway resurfacing works in 2004 and as NEC Supervisor for the erection of the dropped object canopy, to facilitate the painting of the main towers, in 2005.

In 2006 I joined the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) as Project Engineer, responsible for the delivery of capital projects on the Forth Road Bridge. Following the abolition of FETA in 2015 I transferred to Amey and was responsible for the delivery of the main expansion joint replacement project.

In 2020, BEAR Scotland took over responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the Bridge on behalf of Transport Scotland and , I currently have the role of Principal Engineer where I am currently managing the refurbishment of the main cable dehumidification system and planning for the next main cable internal inspection, amongst other things.