Opinion: A £117m bridge closed by one storm after 17 months. Who will answer for Renfrew?
Communities on both sides of the Clyde were promised a reliable crossing. Now they are back to long detours, and a crowdfunder for the old ferry. That should worry anyone planning Scotland's next big project.
The River Clyde at the Renfrew-Yoker crossing. File photo. · Photograph: Alec MacKinnon (CC BY-SA 2.0)
When the Renfrew Bridge opened in May 2025, it was supposed to be the end of an era of waiting. For more than 240 years, people crossed the Clyde between Renfrew and Yoker by ferry. The new £117 million swing bridge promised something better: a crossing for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, connecting communities and opening up land for jobs and homes.
Seventeen months later, it is closed. Not for a day or a week, but for months.
Storm Boelo was severe. Nobody disputes that. But flood water getting into the electrical systems that run the bridge's hydraulics is exactly the kind of risk a bridge over a tidal river should be built to cope with. Storms like this are becoming more frequent, not less. If the design could not survive one bad weekend, residents are entitled to ask why.
Stuck in the open position
To make matters worse, because the bridge has a legal duty to let ships pass, it has to stay open. That means no one can cross at all. People who built their daily routines around the bridge are now being sent to the Clyde Tunnel or the Erskine Bridge, adding time and cost to every journey.
It says something that the most hopeful news so far has come not from the council or the contractors, but from the owner of the old Renfrew Ferry, who is exploring a community crowdfunder to get a boat back on the water. That is a credit to local spirit. It is not a substitute for a working bridge.
Questions that need answers
Renfrewshire Council and the companies involved need to be open with the public. What exactly failed? Was the risk of flooding assessed in the design? Who is paying for the repairs: the taxpayer, the contractor or an insurer? And what will be done to make sure it cannot happen again?
There should also be practical help in the meantime. If the closure is going to last for months, a temporary passenger ferry should be looked at seriously and quickly, not left to volunteers to organise.
A warning for the future
Scotland is spending huge sums on new infrastructure, from bridges to flood defences to transport links. Each one is meant to last for decades. Renfrew is a reminder that resilience to extreme weather cannot be an afterthought.
The people of Renfrew and Yoker were promised a crossing they could rely on. They deserve to know why they have not got one, and when they will.