Scotland’s Queensferry Crossing opens to traffic

The new <%$Linker:2Internal<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />2248040oLinkExternalQueensferry CrossingWH Queensferry Crossing Articlefalse/sections/key-projects/features/scotlands-new-queensferry-crossing-over-the-forth-estuary/truefalse%> in Scotland is now open to traffic, with the first vehicles crossing at 2am this morning. The landmark design has set precedents in engineering, its three 207m high towers making it the tallest of its type in the UK and at 2.7km, also the longest three tower cable-stayed bridge built anywhere in the world. The bridge has a design life of 150 years and features two traffic lanes in either direction, as well as emergency lanes on either side. The new bridge will help reduce the chronic congestion that has developed over the years on the existing bridge, which opened to traffic in 1964. The original bridge was intended to have a design life of 120 years but a massive and unprecedented boost in vehicle numbers (and gross vehicle weights) saw it handling 23 million vehicles/year, far beyond the 11 million vehicles/year it was designed to carry. The new bridge will have its official opening by the queen next week, 53 years to the day since the first Forth Road Bridge opened to drivers.