Three Forth Bridges

September is the 50th anniversary of the official opening of the Forth Road Bridge by HRH Queen Elizabeth . Many local celebrations are taking place including the opportunity to climb to the highest point on the towers on the bridge. I didn't do the climb, but Jim did so the blip from the top was taken by him. While he was climbing, first by a lift and then by ladder, I walked across from Queensferry on the south side to North Queensferry on the opposite bank - and back - about 3.5 miles. This is when I took the other two pictures.

The first crossing at this site was established in the 11th century by Queen Margaret, wife of King Malcolm III of Scotland, who founded a ferry service to transport religious pilgrims across the River Forth from Edinburgh to Dunfermline Abbey and St. Andrews. The service remained in uninterrupted use as a passenger ferry for over 800 years until the construction of the Forth Bridge (rail) in 1890.

The construction of the rail bridge began in 1883 and took 7 years to complete with the loss of 63 men. Until the Quebec Bridge was completed in 1917, the Forth Bridge had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, and it still has the world's second-longest single span. It is an iconic structure and a symbol of Scotland. Maintenance, especially the painting of the bridge has been a constant financial burden since its construction; so much so that "Painting the Forth Bridge" is a colloquialism for a never-ending task based on the erroneous belief that at one time in the history of the bridge, repainting was required and commenced immediately upon completion of the previous repaint.

The road bridge had a planned design life of 120 years, but by the start of the 21st century the projected yearly capacity of 11 million vehicles had steadily risen to 23 million vehicles in 2006, which raised questions of structural safety. Construction of a second road bridge, The Queensferry Crossing, began in September 2011 with a planned completion date given as 2016. The original road bridge will be retained as a crossing for public transport, cycles and pedestrians.