Forth Road Bridge

For the adjacent railway bridge, see Forth Bridge. For the film, see The Forth Road Bridge. For the second road bridge over the Firth of Forth, see Queensferry Crossing.

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]


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).

  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.