Forth Road Bridge
Forth Road Bridge | |
|---|---|
View from South Queensferry towards Fife, 2006 | |
| Coordinates | 56°00′03″N 03°24′15″W / 56.00083°N 3.40417°W |
| Carries |
|
| Crosses | Firth of Forth |
| Locale | Edinburgh and Fife, Scotland |
| Official name | Forth Road Bridge |
| Maintained by | Transport Scotland |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Suspension bridge |
| Total length | 2,512 m (8,241 ft)[1] |
| Width | 33 m (108 ft) dual two-lane carriageway, two cycle/footpaths[1] |
| Height | 156 m (512 ft)[2] |
| Longest span | 1,006 m (3,301 ft)[1] |
| Clearance below | 44.3 m (145 ft)[1] |
| History | |
| Constructed by |
|
| Opened | 4 September 1964 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 65,000 vpd (2012 figures)[3] |
| Toll | Free since 11 February 2008 |
| Location | |
The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge in east central Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964 and at the time was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States.[4][5] The bridge spans the Firth of Forth, connecting Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, to Fife, at North Queensferry. It replaced a centuries-old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists and pedestrians across the Forth; railway crossings are made by the nearby Forth Bridge, opened in 1890.
The Scottish Parliament voted to scrap tolls on the bridge from February 2008.[6] The adjacent Queensferry Crossing was opened in August 2017 to carry the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth, replacing the Forth Road Bridge which had exceeded its design capacity.[7] At its peak, the Forth Road Bridge carried 65,000 vehicles per day.
The Forth Road Bridge was subsequently closed for repairs and refurbishment. It reopened in February 2018, now redesignated as a dedicated Public Transport Corridor, with access to motor vehicles other than buses and taxis restricted;[a] pedestrians and cyclists are still permitted to use the bridge.[9]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
FBVCwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
oldFBVCwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (consortium). "3 Centuries of Spanning the Forth" (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
Traffic: Each year, almost 24 million vehicles cross the bridge. Statistics show that, typically, 2% more vehicles head south than north.
- ^ "Forth Road Bridge Facts & Figures". www.theforthbridges.org. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
- ^ "Forth Road Bridge". www.theforthbridges.org. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
- ^ "Tolls removed from Scots bridges". 11 February 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "Queen opens new Queensferry Crossing". BBC News. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
- ^ "Access restrictions | The Forth Bridges". www.theforthbridges.org.
- ^ "Forth Road Bridge set to open as 'public transport corridor' tomorrow as Queensferry Crossing becomes motorway". 31 January 2018.