Inquiry into Forth Road Bridge closure released
An investigation by a group of MSPs found a crack in the structure could not have been predicted.
Senior engineers at the Forth Road Bridge should be able to close the crossing "without delay" if there is an emergency.
A Holyrood committee has suggested they should not need prior permission from Scottish ministers.
MSPs on the Infrastructure Committee have been into the lessons to be learned from the crossing's three week closure in December, when a crack was found in a truss end link.
They have urged the Scottish Government to consider a "clearer and more immediate decision-making procedure" for handling emergency events on the bridge.
The report highlighted a five-hour delay between bridge operators Amey recommending the bridge be shut and the decision by ministers to to close it.
It says, "while this delay did not present any danger to users" the MSPs felt there is a "lack of clarity as to who is ultimately responsible for closing the Forth Road Bridge and what protocol exists for making such decisions".
The committee concluded the crack in one of the truss end links on the crossing "could not have been foreseen'', with the report noting there are "no other examples of a similar failure occurring on suspension bridges elsewhere in the world which might have informed engineers and led to enhanced checking of the pins". A decision was made in December 2011 to "re-prioritise" work to address concerns about the truss end link mechanisms, the report said, adding this was a "direct consequence" of a reduction in a grant for work on the bridge.
MSPs also said the decision to build a new crossing "had an influence on decisions to re-prioritise certain capital projects" by the previous operators, the Forth Estuary Transport Authority (Feta).