The Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee began its inquiry into the closure of the Forth Road Bridge
Portfolio questions began with infrastructure, investment and cities ministers in the hot seat before the culture, Europe and external affairs ministers were quizzed
The Independent and Scottish Green group led a debate focusing on jobs in Scotland’s new economy
Labour MSP David Stewart led a debate calling for frontline fire and rescue services to be protected
Labour MSP David Stewart asks if the Scottish government and Transport Scotland told FETA to cancel getting consultants over the potential repair in 2010.
Mr Lees says Feta was in charge and Transport Scotland had only "light touch control".
He says Transport Scotland had an excellent relationship with FETA.
Mr Lees says there was a lot going on in 2010 and FETA had basically a "wish list".
Richard Hornby from Arup says all the linkages must be replaced as one has shown this defect.
Mr Hornby says all the others are "ticking time bombs to a greater or lesser extent".
He confirms that replacement is planned, which is confirmed by Scott Lees from Transport Scotland.
Conservative MSP John Scott asks if the inspection regimes have worked and why the member failed.
Mr Hornby from Arup says the failure of the member is because the pin had seized, probably for a number of years.
Conservative MSP John Scott asks about the constant pounding of the bridge by traffic.
Mr Scott says he was inspired to become an engineer after visiting the Forth Road Bridge in 1964 as a child.
When the road bridge opened in 1964, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside America
Mr Hornby from Arup says there is a time limit on the capability of the bridge to take stress loading.
He says a regular inspection regime is required.
SNP MSP Jim Eadie asks about the replacement of the truss end links at the Humber Bridge.
Mr Hornby from Arup says it was due to a similar concern about pins seizing up.
Image source, Getty ImagesHumber Bridge repair lessons will be learned
He says the repair for that was designed to ensure the pins were moving and those lessons will be learned.
Amey's Mark Arndt says access is the biggest challenge on the Forth Road Bridge and the member was in the most inaccessible area.
"The only thing between you and the member is the Forth", he says.
Mr Arndt details the towering scaffolding that was put in place to facilitate the repair.
He details the complexity of the repairs.
Mr Arndt says it was unfortunate the rotation of the pin was not what they hoped as it would have allowed HGV's to be on the bridge today.
SNP MSP Mike Mackenzie praises the work done to get the bridge opened so quickly.
Mr Mackenzie asks if the seizure of the pin caused the breakage of the truss end link.
Amey's Mark Arndt says the bridge relies on a degree of rotation in these pins.
Mr Arndt says it was a fatigue failure which could have happened due to a bit of grit when the bridge was originally installed, no-one really knows.
SNP MSP Adam Ingram asks if adding structural health monitoring to the Forth Road Bridge was ever discussed and what the cost of installing it would have been.
Mr Hornby says for the Queensferry Crossing it is in the order of £5-10m.
He says for complete coverage of the Forth Road Bridge would be an enormous task.
Richard Hornby from Arup says the element that failed was actually the strongest link in the chain.
Mr Hornby says these moving components have a finite life and there is a time to replace them and structural health monitoring of these things has not been done widely.
He says in the Queensferry Crossing they will be put in place.
SNP MSP Adam Ingram asks about installing structural health monitoring and asks why that was not done when Amey took over the bridge.
John Russell from Amey says when he worked with FETA it was not installed either.
It is a difficult thing to do, he says.
Mr Russell says he hopes to continue with the structural health monitoring, but not everything on the "wish list" can be delivered, even when tolls were in place.
Mark Arndt says Amey does have experience of the closure of major structures, although it is true that Amey does not have long experience on this type of suspension bridge.
Mr Arndt says that is why Arup were brought in and they are part of an integrated team including Fairhurst.
"It is not the dream start I would have wanted to a contract."
He pays credit to the teams in the office and working on site in December, with 300 people on site.
John Russell from Amey says "It was just another day at the Forth Road Bridge."
Image source, ArupArup, external is an independent firm and one of the world's leading long-span bridge designers and is part of a joint venture with Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd to design, develop and project-manage a new cable-stayed bridge crossing the river Forth.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said it is "absolutely" not true that cuts to maintenance budgets led to the closure of the Forth Road Bridge.
The bridge was closed to all traffic until the 23 December 2015 after a defect was found in one of the support beams on the north tower.
Image source, PAMs Sturgeon said all maintenance that had been required to be done on the bridge had been done.
She said the crack that resulted in the bridge closure was "unforeseeable".
Ministerial statement on Forth Road Bridge closure.
The committee convener says there were no safety critical work delayed then.
Mr Lees says the main safety critical works were done and then confirms that no critical safety works were delayed.
Mr Scott says his degree was in civil engineering and he says the words "threat to structural integrity" makes him "run to the high ground".
The Conseravative MSP says the seizure of the pin turned the bridge from a mechanism to a structure.
He says this must have been looked at.
Image source, AmeyThe temporary fix involved the truss end having metal splints attached to either side
Scott Lees from Transport Scotland says a lot of these questions require the answers to come from the former bridge master.
Mr Lees says at £15m it was deemed the overall repair was unaffordable, but there was nothing wrong with what Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) did.
He says the risk was deemed manageable.
The operator of the Forth Road Bridge was told of a need for repairs 10 months ago, a leaked email revealed in December.
Chief engineer Barry Colford imposed a restriction on "abnormal" loads and said it needed to remain until all the truss end links were strengthened.
One of the links has since cracked, which led to the closure of the bridge.
Image source, Forth Road BridgeTransport Scotland said the restriction imposed was not related to the current structural defect.
The email was sent to Lesley Hinds, convener of the Forth Estuary Transport Authority - which formerly ran the bridge - in February.
Mr Colford said he was banning all vehicles weighing more than 150 tonnes from using the bridge because of analysis carried out about the pressure on key beams.
Conservative MSP John Scott says the replacement of the truss end links was indentified in 2009.
Scott Lees from Transport Scotland says the former bridge master does not think this problem was forseeable.
Mr Lees says the previous problems were around the bracket strength.
During the transfer from FETA to Amey the risk of this defect was not raised he says.
The member that failed was never identified as a risk.
Image source, FairhurstFairhurst is tasked with replacing or augmenting the main cables of the Forth Road Bridge.
Amey's Mark Arndt says as soon as the interim repairs are completed HGVs will be allowed back on the bridge.
Colin Clark from Fairhurst explains the design and how the load will be shared out between the existing link and new temporary works, which will allow HGVs back on the bridge.
SNP MSP Jim Eadie asks about the anticipated time scale for the reopening of the bridge to HGVs
Mr Arndt says mid-February remains the estimate of the reopening of the bridge to HGVs.
He says the worst case scenario is that all four pins are seized and that would take until mid-March.