Forth Road Bridge

Forth Road Bridge
View from South Queensferry towards Fife, 2006
Coordinates56°00′03″N 03°24′15″W / 56.00083°N 3.40417°W / 56.00083; -3.40417
Carries
CrossesFirth of Forth
LocaleEdinburgh and Fife, Scotland
Official nameForth Road Bridge
Maintained byTransport Scotland
Characteristics
DesignSuspension bridge
Total length2,512 m (8,241 ft)[1]
Width33 m (108 ft) dual two-lane carriageway, two cycle/footpaths[1]
Height156 m (512 ft)[2]
Longest span1,006 m (3,301 ft)[1]
Clearance below44.3 m (145 ft)[1]
History
Constructed by
Opened4 September 1964
Statistics
Daily traffic65,000 vpd (2012 figures)[3]
TollFree since 11 February 2008
Location
Map

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] In May 2023, Stagecoach Fife started the first driverless bus service to carry passengers in the United Kingdom along a park-and-ride route which includes the Forth Road Bridge as its main section.[10][11]


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  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference FBVC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference oldFBVC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Forth Road Bridge Facts & Figures". www.theforthbridges.org. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Forth Road Bridge". www.theforthbridges.org. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  6. ^ "Tolls removed from Scots bridges". 11 February 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Queen opens new Queensferry Crossing". BBC News. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Access restrictions | The Forth Bridges". www.theforthbridges.org.
  9. ^ "Forth Road Bridge set to open as 'public transport corridor' tomorrow as Queensferry Crossing becomes motorway". 31 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Stagecoach to launch fleet of driverless buses between Fife and Edinburgh". Dunfermline Press. 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  11. ^ "UK's first driverless bus begins passenger service in Edinburgh". BBC News. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.