Glasgow City Council has closed the so-called ‘squinty’ bridge, only opened in 2006, after a cable snapped and lay across the carriageway. The £20M Clyde Arc bridge, which got its nickname because it crosses the river diagonally, has been closed indefinitely while safety checks are carried out. The cable snapped on Monday (14 January) at around 11.30pm. The city council and the Clyde Arc contractors and design team said the bridge, which was given the Saltire Award for civil engineering, was likely to remain closed for several weeks, pending further investigations. The bowstring asymmetric tied arch bridge links Finnieston on the north bank of the river to the Pacific Quay area on the south side, carrying four traffic lanes, including one each way for public transport and pedestrian and cycle paths. Robert Booth, executive director of land and environmental services at Glasgow City Council, said temporary traffic diversions were in place to minimise disruption to the travelling public. He said: ‘One of the 14 bridge supports has failed, but we don’t believe the integrity of the bridge is affected. Clyde Arc is designed to allow for the removal of one of the bridge supports at a time for repair and maintenance, without affecting its operation. ‘The bridge is still under guarantee by the main contractor, which will report back to the council, once its staff have established the cause, following their investigations and independent testing of the broken part.’ Elsewhere, high winds exceeding 80mph forced bridges across Scotland to close last Wednesday, including the Forth Road Bridge, the Tay Bridge, and the Erskine Bridge. The Erskine Bridge was closed despite a new system introduced on the nearby motorway and trunk roads which enables the bridge to remain open to cars during high winds. But a Transport Scotland spokesperson said the system was not designed to cope with gusts in excess of 80mph.