The Queensferry Crossing opens today, kicking off a week of events to celebrate the completion of the new £1.35bn bridge over the river Forth. Pirtek are extremely proud to have played a small part in this project in assisting with emergency hose replacement.
The man behind the building project, Michael Martin, said the new crossing was “one of the world’s great bridges”.
The new 1.7 miles (2.7km) publicly-funded crossing is the biggest infrastructure project in Scotland in a generation and will replace the Forth Road Bridge as the main road route between Edinburgh and Fife, carrying 24 million vehicles a year.
The existing road bridge, built in 1964 and dogged by maintenance problems, will continued to be used by cycles, pedestrians and eventually buses. The iconic 19th Century Forth Bridge , which carries the railway over the river, lies just a mile away.
The first vehicles travelled across the Queensferry Crossing in the early hours of this morning and by the morning rush hour, it was taking more than an hour to clear the bridge in both directions due to the large number of drivers looking to cross for the first time.
The new bridge will take most of the traffic that currently uses the 53-year-old Forth Road Bridge. The old one will remain open for cyclists, pedestrians and buses.
On Monday night a collection of vintage, modern and electric vehicles drove on the bridge in a procession to mark the symbolic handover from contractors to the Scottish government. It was followed by a light show across the bridge to celebrate the completion of the biggest infrastructure project in Scotland in a generation.
The Queensferry Crossing will be closed again at the weekend to allow members of the public to walk across it. About 50,000 people were given tickets after a ballot for a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to walk over the new bridge on Saturday and Sunday.
There will then be a royal visit from the Queen next Monday, ahead of the bridge fully opening later next week.
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