Forth Replacement Crossing

Queensferry Crossing
The Queensferry Crossing photographed in November 2017
Coordinates	56°00′17″N 3°24′45″W / 56.0046°N 3.4124°W / 56.0046; -3.4124Coordinates: 56°00′17″N 3°24′45″W / 56.0046°N 3.4124°W / 56.0046; -3.4124
Carries	M90 motorway
Crosses	Firth of Forth
Locale	Edinburgh and Fife, Scotland
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	2,700 metres (8,858 ft)
Longest span	650 metres (2,133 ft)
No. of lanes	Dual two-lane carriageway with hard shoulders
History
Constructed by	Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC)
Construction start	September 2011
Construction end	27 August 2017
Construction cost	£1.35 billion
Inaugurated	September 4, 2017 (2017-09-04)
Opened	August 30, 2017 (2017-08-30)
Queensferry Crossing Location of the bridge in relation to Edinburgh

The Queensferry Crossing (formerly the Forth Replacement Crossing) is a road bridge in Scotland. It was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry.

Proposals for a second Forth Road crossing were first put forward in the 1990s. But no action was taken until structural issues were discovered in 2004. In 2006-2007 Transport Scotland carried out a study to examine the options and in December 2007, the decision was made to proceed with a replacement bridge. The following year it was announced that the existing bridge would be retained as a public transport link. The Forth Crossing Act received Royal Assent in January 2011. In April 2011, the Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors Consortium were awarded the contact and constructed began in late Summer/Autumn of 2011.

The Queensferry Crossing is a three-tower cable-stayed bridge, with an overall length of 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles). Around 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) of new connecting roads were built, including new and upgraded junctions at Ferrytoll in Fife, South Queensferry and Junction 1A on the M9.

The bridge was first due to be completed by December 2016, but this deadline was extended to August 2017 after several delays. It is the third bridge across the Forth at Queensferry, alongside the Forth Road Bridge completed in 1964, and the Forth Bridge completed in 1890. Following a public vote, it was formally named on 26 June 2013 and opened to traffic on 30 August 2017. The official opening was carried out on 4 September 2017 by Queen Elizabeth II, fifty-three years to the day after she opened the adjacent Forth Road Bridge.

A crossing route over the Forth had existed at the site since the eleventh century, when the queen of Scotland, Margaret, founded a free ferry to take pilgrims north to St Andrews. The site of the ferry crossing became the location of the Forth Road Bridge, which opened in 1964. Proposals for an additional road crossing at Queensferry were drawn up in the early 1990s, as part of the "Setting Forth" consultation document prepared by the Scottish Office. The plans met stiff opposition from environmentalists and from the City of Edinburgh Council on the grounds of the increased traffic. Following the Labour victory in the 1997 general election, the proposals were shelved.