The Queensferry Crossing is huge, but it is also Scotland’s biggest infrastructure project.
Transport Scotland have made a video of the last twelve months of the bridge which is about 94% complete:
Economy Secretary Keith Brown he said:
“The Queensferry Crossing is now nearing completion and is on schedule to open in May next year.
“On the bridge there is continuous deck from the north viaduct in Fife to just a few metres short of the south viaduct in the Lothians. At this stage there are only two more deck segments to lift of the 122 total – with these due to be in place in early 2017.
“When work starts back at the beginning of January the initial focus will be on completing the final few concrete pours to complete the deck of the south viaduct. Then focus will shift onto a new phase of finishing works – water proofing, road surfacing and the final fit out of all the mechanical and electrical systems on what will be a truly state-of-the-art bridge.
“The challenge the project faces with the weather have been well documented but it is to the enormous credit of the skilled and dedicated team that the project remains on schedule to open within the original contractual timeframe and significantly under budget. And, of course, no one ever said building the tallest bridge in Britain in such a challenging environment was going to be easy.
“Looking ahead to when the bridge is open, road users can look forward to significant improvements to Scotland’s trunk road network. The project will bring a 14 mile motorway connection between the outskirts of Edinburgh and Dunfermline, with much improved junctions and smart technology to vary speed limits to ease periods of congestion.
“When the Queensferry Crossing opens the Forth Road Bridge will be retained as a dedicated public transport corridor which will improve bus journey times and also provide a much improved, largely traffic-free environment for cyclists and walkers across the Forth.”
The most significant moments of 2016 have been:
- 200 stay cables have been installed, measuring a total of 50 kilometres – which would stretch all the way from the bridge to St Andrews if laid end to end
- The bridge deck is now largely complete with only 2 lifts remaining early in 2017
- 83 deck sections were lifted into place this year, weighing a total of over 60,000 tonnes
- Three of four principal bridge deck closures of the deck where completed – with only two deck units remaining to be lifted before the final closure early in 2017
- North Viaduct fully launched – the 221 metre, 6,000 tonne structure was pulled out over two piers at a careful speed of up to 6 metres an hour. The process taking just over 4 weeks to complete
- On the south deck fan – two technically challenging over pier deck lifts have been completed
- On the road network for the new bridge – 3.5 kilometres of road surfacing have been laid, 8 kilometres of drainage pipes have been laid, 11,500 square meters of waterproofing spray applied, 14 overhead gantries erected and 44,000 trees have been planted
- The project continues to capture the public’s imagination with around 7,000 school pupils from all over Scotland visiting and over 8,000 people viewing the project exhibition, listening to presentations and visiting the site in 2016.
Photo by John Preece.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
