The Forth Road Bridge is a

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

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. The bridge spans the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

, connecting

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, at

South Queensferry Queensferry, also called South Queensferry or simply "The Ferry", is a town to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Traditionally a royal burgh of West Lothian, it is now administered by the City of Edinburgh Council. It lies ten miles to the nor ...

, to

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, at

North Queensferry North Queensferry is a historic coastal village in Fife, Scotland, situated on the Firth of Forth, from Edinburgh city centre. Located on the North Queensferry Peninsula, it is the southernmost settlement in Fife. The town derives its name fro ...

. 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 The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

, opened in 1890. The

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

voted to scrap tolls on the bridge from February 2008. The adjacent

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

was opened in August 2017 to carry the

M90 motorway The M90 is a controlled-access highway, motorway in Scotland. It runs from Junction 1A of the M9 motorway (Scotland), M9 motorway, south of the Queensferry Crossing, to Perth, Scotland, Perth. It is the northernmost motorway in the United Kin ...

across the Firth of Forth, replacing the Forth Road Bridge which had exceeded its design capacity. 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; pedestrians and cyclists are still permitted to use the bridge. In May 2023,

Stagecoach Fife Stagecoach East Scotland is a bus operator providing services in eastern Scotland, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Fife. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group. History Stagecoach began long distance express coach services ...

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.

History

The first crossing at the site of the bridge was established in the 11th century by

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

of King

Malcolm III Malcolm III (; ; –13 November 1093) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Alba from 1058 to 1093. He was later nicknamed "Canmore" (, , understood as "great chief"). Malcolm's long reign of 35 years preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norma ...

, who founded a ferry service to transport religious pilgrims from Edinburgh to

Dunfermline Abbey Dunfermline Abbey is a Church of Scotland parish church in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The church occupies the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, which was confiscated and sacked in 1560 during the S ...

and

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. Its creation gave rise to the port towns of Queensferry and North Queensferry, which remain to this day; the passenger ferry service continued without interruption for over 800 years. There were proposals as early as the 1740s for a road crossing at the site, although its viability was only considered after the

was built in 1890. The importance of the crossing for vehicular traffic was underpinned when the

Great Britain road numbering scheme In Great Britain, there is a numbering scheme used to Categorization, classify and identify all roads. Each road is given a single letter (representing a category) and a subsequent number (between one and four digits). Though this scheme was in ...

was drawn up in the 1920s. The planners wished the arterial

A9 road This is a list of roads designated A9. * A009 road (Argentina), a road in the northeast of Santa Fe Province * ''A9 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A9 (Sydney), a road linking Windsor and Campbelltown ** Port River Expressway, a limi ...

to be routed across the Forth here, although the unwillingness to have a ferry crossing as part of this route led to the A90 number being assigned instead. There was more lobbying for a road crossing in the 1920s and 1930s, when the only vehicle crossing was a single passenger and vehicle ferry. Sir William Denny championed the expansion of that service in the 1930s, providing and operating on behalf of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...

two additional ferries to supplement the nearby railway bridge. Due to their success, two more ferry boats were added in the 1940s and 1950s, by which time the ferries were making 40,000 crossings annually, carrying 1.5 million passengers and 800,000 vehicles.

Design

With the then newest and nearest bridge spanning the Forth (the

Kincardine Bridge The Kincardine Bridge is a road bridge crossing the Firth of Forth from Falkirk council area to Kincardine, Fife, Scotland. History The bridge was constructed between 1932 and 1936, to a design by Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, Consulting E ...

, built in 1936) still around upstream, the upsurge in demand for a road crossing between Edinburgh and Fife prompted the

UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

to establish the Forth Road Bridge Joint Board (FRBJB) by Act of Parliament in 1947 to oversee the implementation of a new bridge to replace the ferry service. The authorities on both sides investigated in 1955, and drew up an alternative scheme for a tunnel beneath the estuary. This was known as the Maunsell Scheme, and was projected to run somewhat closer to the rail bridge than the present road bridge. The scheme was abandoned as too ambitious, and a bridge was built instead.

Construction

The final construction plan was accepted in February 1958 and work began that September.

Mott, Hay and Anderson Mott, Hay and Anderson (MHA) was a successful 20th century firm of consulting civil engineers based in the United Kingdom. The company traded until 1989, when it merged with Sir M MacDonald & Partners to form '' Mott MacDonald''. History Ear ...

and

Freeman Fox & Partners Hyder Consulting was a multi-national advisory and design consultancy with particular specialisation in the transport, property, utilities and environmental sectors. The firm employed approximately 4,200 people across the UK, Europe, Germany, Midd ...

carried out the design work and a joint venture of Sir William Arrol & Co.,

Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company was a British bridge works and structural steel contractor based in Darlington. It built various structures including the Victoria Falls Bridge, Tees Transporter Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, Forth Road, Hum ...

and

Dorman Long Dorman Long & Co was a UK steel producer, later diversifying into bridge building. The company was once listed on the London Stock Exchange. History The company was founded by Arthur Dorman and Albert de Lande Long when they acquired '' ...

constructed the bridge at a cost of £15.1 million. The resident design engineer was John Alexander King Hamilton

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1900–1982). It was the longest steel suspension bridge in Europe. It used 210,000 tons of concrete, with of

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

dual-carriageway approach roads. Reed & Mallik built the approach viaducts. Twenty-four individual bridges were built for the approach roads. The southern approach road of the A90 began at Cramond Bridge, over the River Almond on the western outskirts of Edinburgh, near Craigiehall. There were two-level interchanges built at Burnshot, Dolphington (B924) and the Echline junction ( A904 and B800). At

Dalmeny Dalmeny () is a village and civil parish in Scotland. It is located on the south side of the Firth of Forth, southeast of South Queensferry and west of Edinburgh city centre. It lies within the traditional boundaries of West Lothian, and ...

there was a bridge over the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. The southern approach roads were built by A.M. Carmichael Ltd. The northern approach road had three two-level junctions at Ferry Toll (for the B980), Admiralty (for

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation i ...

via the A985, and

Inverkeithing Inverkeithing ( ; ) is a coastal town, parish and historic Royal burgh in Fife, Scotland. The town lies on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh city centre and south of Dunfermline. A town of ancient origin, Inverke ...

via the A921) and at Mastertown/Masterton (for what would be the fledgling M90 southern terminus). The Masterton junction was an octopus junction, a variation of a clover-leaf junction, with six bridges and a 600 ft viaduct. There were fifteen bridges built for this approach road. The northern approach road terminated as the

A823(M) The A823(M) is a motorway in Fife, Scotland. It is a spur from the M90 into Dunfermline. The road provides a fast route for traffic from Dunfermline to the Forth Road Bridge. When it opened in 1964A823 south of Dunfermline, next to

Rosyth railway station Rosyth railway station serves the town of Rosyth in Fife, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and lies on the Fife Circle Line, north of . It was opened in 1917 by the North British Railway (as ''Rosyth Halt'') to serve the nearby nav ...

. The northern approach roads were built by Whatlings Ltd of Glasgow, later bought by

Alfred McAlpine Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in Hooton, Cheshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Carillion in 2008. The origins of Alfred McAlpine are strongly associated with the busine ...

. Seven people died during construction before the bridge was opened by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

and the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

on 4 September 1964. The ferry service was discontinued as of that date.

Operation

The bridge's management was delegated to the FRBJB, and remained so until 2002 when its operation was transferred to a new body with a wider remit, the

Forth Estuary Transport Authority The Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) was the authority responsible for the maintenance of the Forth Road Bridge over the Firth of Forth in eastern central Scotland. FETA was created in 2001 by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 2) ...

. On 1 December 2010, the bridge was closed for the first time due to heavy snow. After several accidents meant snowploughs were unable to clear the carriageways, the bridge was closed in both directions at 6.40 a.m. and remained closed for several hours. As part of celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the bridge's operation, artist Kate Downie was commissioned to create a print of the bridge and hold an exhibition of works portraying it. On 1 June 2015, Amey took over the maintenance and operating of the bridge on behalf of Transport Scotland from the Forth Estuary Transport Authority, and are now called the Forth Bridges Unit.

Structural issues

Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) began to be concerned over the structural wear of the bridge in the early years of the 21st century. The planned theoretical capacity for the bridge (30,000 vehicles per day in each direction) was routinely exceeded as traffic levels outstripped predictions. The

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

stated in 2006 that 60,000 vehicles travelled on more than half the days in a year. This raised concerns about the lifespan of the bridge, originally planned at 120 years. In 2003, an inspection programme was launched (costing £1.2 million) to assess the condition of the main suspension cables after corrosion was discovered in a number of older bridges in the United States of a similar design and size. The study was completed two years later and reported that the main cables had suffered an 8%–10% loss of strength. This weakening was projected to accelerate, with traffic restrictions to limit loading required in 2014 in the worst-case scenario, followed by full closure by 2020. Forth bridge dsc06385

An acoustic monitoring system was commissioned in August 2006, using listening devices to monitor any further strands snapping and pinpoint their location within the main cables. In January 2006, the Scottish Executive completed a third-party audit on the bridge which concluded that FETA had performed the initial internal inspection and cable strength calculation in accordance with accepted practice. The report suggested that traffic restrictions could be required by 2013. Several actions were taken to increase the bridge's lifespan. These included a

dehumidification A dehumidifier is an air conditioning device which reduces and maintains the level of humidity in the air. This is done usually for health or thermal comfort reasons or to eliminate musty odor and to prevent the growth of mildew by extracting wate ...

programme that slowed the rate of corrosion in the main cables by keeping air in the voids between the main cables' strands below 40% humidity. Engineering consultants

Faber Maunsell Oscar Faber (5 July 1886 – 7 May 1956) was a British structural engineer. He was influential in the development of the use of reinforced concrete in the United Kingdom. Because many engineers were not certain of the material, Faber pioneered si ...

began work on the project in 2006; it took two and a half years to complete at a cost of £7.8 million. As part of the works, some of the corroded cable strands were

spliced Spliced may refer to: *Spliced, the result of rope splicing Rope splicing in ropework is the forming of a semi-permanent joint between two ropes or two parts of the same rope by partly untwisting and then interweaving their strands. Splices ca ...

The southbound carriageway of the bridge was closed on 1 December 2015, with all traffic using a single lane each way on the northbound carriageway after steelwork defects had been discovered during routine inspections, and traffic was restricted to 7.5 tonnes or less (public service vehicles excepted). On 4 December, the bridge was fully closed when further structural faults were found. It was initially not expected to reopen until January 2016, and Transport Scotland began work to lay on extra trains and buses and considered whether to reintroduce a ferry service to mitigate the impact on travellers. On 23 December, the bridge was reopened for all traffic except

heavy goods vehicles A large goods vehicle (LGV), or heavy goods vehicle (HGV), in the European Union (EU) is any lorry with a gross combination mass (GCM) of over . Sub-category N2 is used for vehicles between 3,500 kg and and N3 for all goods vehicles over ...

(HGVs). On 4 February, it was announced this had been pushed back to March, due to further problems with the truss end link pins in the southern towers, which required additional remedial work. However, a limited number of HGVs were allowed to cross, in a northbound direction only, between 11 pm and 4 am each night. On 20 February 2016, the bridge was fully reopened.

2016 public inquiry

On 20 January 2016, the Scottish Parliament began an inquiry led by the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee (ICI) to determine the circumstances that led to the discovery of a cracked truss in the bridge's undercarriage. Evidence was heard from FETA, Transport Minister Derek Mackay, engineers and officials from Amey along with a number of other experts and key personnel. On the first day, Richard Hornby, of engineering consulting firm Arup, stated that the truss end in question had been inspected 23 times since 2001, and no fault had been found. It was revealed that a pin had seized up, which caused the truss end to crack, and it was only the quality of the steel which had stopped its cracking appearing earlier. Hornby also made clear that even if the seized pin had been picked up earlier, it was "virtually impossible" to lubricate the bearing. Several witnesses defended a decision by previous operator FETA not to proceed with a £15 million truss end link replacement project in 2010. This was disputed by Barry Colford, former chief engineer and bridgemaster at FETA. Lesley Hinds, FETA's former convener, pointed out that the bridge budget had been cut by 58% in 2011, while senior staff at FETA had "deep concerns" about the transfer of bridge management to a private company.

New crossings and change of use

The strategic transport importance of the road bridge and the threat of closure by 2020 if major structural work were not undertaken led to fears of serious economic consequences. Increasing traffic levels across the Firth of Forth had also led to the construction of the

Clackmannanshire Bridge The Clackmannanshire Bridge (Scottish Gaelic: ''Drochaid Chlach Mhannainn'') is a road bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scotland which opened to traffic on 19 November 2008. Prior to 1 October 2008 the bridge was referred to as the upper Forth c ...

adjacent to the existing

. This bridge opened in November 2008. Proposals for a second road crossing at Queensferry had been made in the 1990s, but were shelved, despite preliminary work on route selection. Following the discovery of potentially serious structural issues with the Forth Road Bridge in 2005 the proposals were revisited and plans advanced. The decision to proceed with a replacement bridge was taken at the end of 2007, and it was announced the following year that the existing bridge would be retained as a public transport link. The Forth Crossing Act received Royal Assent in January 2011, and the new bridge was opened in late 2017. On 1 February 2018, the Forth Road Bridge became a Public Transport Corridor, with all approach roads in full operation. The bridge was closed between September and mid October 2017 for roadworks before partially reopening for public buses. As of December 2020, work was underway that would allow the Forth Road Bridge to become an emergency diversion route for private transport. The Queensferry Crossing has proofing that makes it less vulnerable to high winds than the Forth Road Bridge, but it was closed for the first time in February 2020 due to accumulations of ice on its towers.

Driverless buses

On 22 November 2018, it was announced that £4.35 million of funding had been secured for the United Kingdom's first passenger-carrying driverless bus trial, planned to take place across the Forth Road Bridge public transport corridor by 2021. Five brand new autonomous 42-seater

Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV The Alexander Dennis Enviro200 MMC, also marketed as the Alexander Dennis Enviro200, is a single-decker city bus produced by Alexander Dennis since 2014 as the successor to the Alexander Dennis Enviro200, Enviro200 midibus and Alexander Dennis E ...

single-decker buses, with autonomous control modifications supplied by Fusion Processing, are operated by

on a park-and-ride route in mixed traffic at up to between

, on the north side of the Forth, and

Edinburgh Park Edinburgh Park is an out-of-town business park in South Gyle, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is west of the city, near Edinburgh Airport and adjacent to the Edinburgh City Bypass. It was opened in 1995. The layout of the park was masterplanned by ...

Transport Exchange, across the bridge. The service has two members of staff onboard – for operational reasons and to comply with UK legislation, a safety driver is still present in the cab to monitor the technology, but they do not operate the vehicle other than in exceptional circumstances. A 'captain' takes tickets and answers questions. The service started on 15 May 2023 and runs on a frequent timetable with capacity anticipated to be around 10,000 passenger journeys a week.

Statistics

The bridge's central main span is long, its two side spans are each long, and the approach viaducts are on the north side and on the south side. The total length is . It was the longest suspension bridge span outside the United States and the fourth-longest span in the world at the time of its construction. The bridge is made of 39,000 tonnes of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

and 115,000 cubic metres of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

. The towers reach above mean water level. There is a dual carriageway road with two lanes in each direction, and cycle/footpaths on each side. The main strung cables are in diameter, with 11,618 high tensile wires, each five millimetres in diameter, and each cable carries 13,800 tonnes of the bridge's load. The bridge formed a crucial part of the corridor between south-east and north-east Scotland, linking Edinburgh to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

by the A90 road and its sister M90 motorway, which used to begin north of the bridge's northern end. The bridge carried around 2.5 million vehicles in its first year, increasing to around 21.4 million vehicles in 2008. The bridge carried its 250 millionth vehicle in 2002. It was awarded

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

's Category A listed structure status in 2001.

Tolls

On 11 February 2008, tolls were abolished on the bridge by The Scottish Government. Initially, it was suggested that tolls would cease once the original cost of construction (plus accrued

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a debtor or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distinct f ...

) was repaid. This was achieved in 1993, and it was planned that tolls would not be levied after May 1995. Instead, legislation enabling the continued levying of tolls was renewed by Parliament (originally that of the UK but now the Scottish Parliament) in 1998, 2003 and 2006. Originally, a toll was paid for each direction of travel, with sets of tollbooths on both carriageways. In 1997, the northbound toll was doubled (from 40p to 80p) and the southbound toll abolished on the presumption that almost all traffic makes a return journey across the bridge, and that the removal of the southbound toll would result in a reduction of congestion without reducing revenue. FETA said the continued charging of tolls was necessary to fund maintenance and improvement works. These included the construction of defences around the submerged piers forming the bases of the main towers to guard against collisions. The main towers were also strengthened with internal steel columns (the original tower structure was hollow) and had hydraulic rams jack up these sections to transfer a portion of the load to the new steelwork. Also, the vertical cables suspending the deck had their bolts replaced after a detected failure. A new paint system required development for the bridge (the original was phased out due to environmental concerns).

Variable tolling proposals

In late-2005, FETA's committee approved a proposed revamp of the tolls. The minimum toll would stay fixed at £1, but higher tolls would be charged at some times of day, with a maximum of £4 during evening rush hours. All tolls would be halved for cars with more than one occupant, as an incentive for motorists to share cars and make fewer journeys. According to FETA's chairman

Lawrence Marshall Lawrence Clark Marshall (April 13, 1904 – November 29, 1972) was an American banker who served as president of the Bank of the Manhattan Company and, later, vice chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank. Early life Marshall was born on April 13, 190 ...

, the system would provide the most efficiency; he said that 80% of peak-time journeys are made by single-occupant vehicles. The proposal, passed with the chairman's casting vote after the committee was deadlocked, was referred to the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

in December 2005, and implementation planned for October 2007 subject to approval by Transport Minister

Tavish Scott Tavish Hamilton Scott (born 6 May 1966) is a former Scottish politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Shetland from 1999 to 2019, and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011. He stepped down as Lea ...

. Environmental groups welcomed the proposal, but local politicians condemned it as simply a means of raising capital. At the same time, Fife councillors counter-proposed the complete removal of tolls. The Scottish Parliament debated the proposals in January 2006, and the affair became a major political issue after UK Cabinet Ministers

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

and

Alistair Darling Alistair Maclean Darling, Baron Darling of Roulanish, (28 November 1953 – 30 November 2023) was a British politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under prime minister Gordon Brown from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party ...

(

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

and

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

respectively) were seen to describe the variable tolling plan as "dead in the water". Scottish

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as first minister of Scotland and leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister f ...

insisted his Labour Party colleagues were misquoted, and refused to rule out the plan, receiving criticism from the opposition

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

. There was a by-election on 9 February 2006 for Dunfermline and West Fife, the constituency in which the north end of the bridge is situated. It was contested (in addition to the major political parties in Scotland) by an Abolish Forth Bridge Tolls Party.

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

candidate

Willie Rennie William Cowan Rennie (born 27 September 1967) is a Scottish politician who served as the Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2011 to 2021. He has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for North East Fife since 2016, ...

won the election, overturning a large Labour majority on a 16% swing. Afterwards, media speculated that the Executive had turned against the proposals, and Tavish Scott eventually confirmed their rejection and the retention of the existing toll structure on 1 March 2006. FETA condemned the decision, while local opposition

MSPs The Missionaries of the Holy Spirit (MSpS) are a Catholic religious institute founded in Mexico City in 1914 by French missionary Félix de Jesús Rougier. Father Rougier was a priest and a member of another religious order, the Society of Mary. ...

charged the Minister that his tolling review short-changed Fifers as tolls were axed on the

Erskine Bridge The Erskine Bridge is a multi span cable-stayed box girder bridge spanning the River Clyde in west central Scotland. The bridge connects West Dunbartonshire with Renfrewshire and can be used by all types of motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrian ...

, leaving tolls on just the Forth and

Tay Road Bridge The Tay Road Bridge carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in Europe, and was opened in 1966, rep ...

Abolition

When an SNP minority government was formed after the Scottish parliamentary election of May 2007, a new debate on the abolition of tolls was opened by Transport Minister

Stewart Stevenson James Alexander Stewart Stevenson (''Gaelic: Seamus Alasdair Stiùbhart MacSteafain''; born 15 October 1946) is a Scottish former politician who served as Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change from 2007 to 2010 and Minister ...

on 31 May 2007, and the abolition was agreed by a large majority. Annual toll income at that point totalled £16,000,000. The Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 3 September 2007, passed on 20 December 2007, and received royal assent on 24 January 2008. The tolls were removed on 11 February 2008 at 00:01 GMT. The abolition of the tolls was enacted immediately after a major reconstruction of the northbound toll plaza was completed.

Suicides

In 2011, it was stated that around 800 people had fallen to their deaths since the bridge had opened. A report in 2000 stated that prior to then, four people had survived falling from the bridge.

Notes

References

External links

Official website

Forth Estuary Transport Authority

Bridges Visitor Centre Trust – Home Page
{{authority control 1964 establishments in Scotland Bridges completed in 1964 Bridges in Fife Former toll bridges in Scotland Listed bridges in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Fife Road bridges in Scotland Suspension bridges in Scotland Transport in Edinburgh Bridges in Edinburgh Firth of Forth South Queensferry