These piers, built between and , were used by ferries right up until , when the Forth Road Bridge opened. There were plans for an alternative crossing which was not weather dependent, with a proposal for a tunnel under the Forth and a design for a suspension bridge submitted in It was the spreading of the railway network in the middle years of the century, however, that underlined the need for a bridge.
A young engineer called Thomas Bouch arrived in , determined to solve the problem of the Forth and Tay estuaries. He first devised a system where trains were floated over the water on platforms, which impressed the directors of the North British Railway enough to listen to his ideas for bridges across the two estuaries.
The Tay Bridge was begun in and the foundation stone laid for a suspension bridge across the Forth in However, this project came to an abrupt end when, three days after Christmas , the Tay Bridge collapsed in a storm, with the loss of an estimated 75 train passengers. The following year, in , work began on the Forth Bridge we know today, an iconic marvel of design and engineering skills known the world over.
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The North British Railway took over the ferry at Queensferry in , and completed a rail link from Ratho in , establishing a contiguous link with Fife. Interest in bridging the Forth increased again, and Bouch proposed a stiffened steel suspension bridge on roughly the line of the present rail bridge in , and after careful verification, work started in on a pier at Inchgarvie.
After Tay Bridge collapsed in , confidence in Bouch dried up and the work stopped. Barlow and T. Harrison, consulting engineers to the project, were invited to give proposals for a bridge. Sir Benjamin Baker. Benjamin Baker began his career at 16 as an apprentice in the South Wales Ironworks.
He moved to London, where he was involved in the construction of Victoria Station, and joined the firm of John Fowler in , becoming a partner in Sir John Fowler was one of the great civil engineers of the Victorian railway boom. He designed a number of bridges — including the Grosvenor Bridge, which carried the first railway across the Thames — and designed Victoria Station in London and stations in Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.
Some of his most memorable work, though, was as a pioneering engineer on the various lines which became the London Underground.
In he became the youngest ever president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was active in leading the development of training for engineers. By the time he came to his work on the Forth Bridge he had passed much of the design work on to Benjamin Baker, but he remained the senior partner throughout the construction and was made a baronet on completion of the bridge in William Arrol was the classic Victorian ideal of the self-made man, rising from humble origins to fame and a knighthood through hard work and ingenuity.
He established his Dalmarnock Works in and within three years built his first major bridge, taking the North British Railway across the Clyde at Bothwell. The Forth Bridge was the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel rather than iron and this was only possible because of an advance in steel manufacture.
Large amounts of steel had become available after the invention of the Bessemer process in but its strength was unpredictable. The steel used was produced by two steelworks in Scotland and one in Wales. The cantilever design of the bridge was not new — it had been in use for centuries in the east — but the scale of the Forth Bridge was completely unprecedented, as were many of the technical challenges.
Although work on the foundations of the Forth Bridge started in February , work at the site had begun in with the construction of steel fabrication workshops on the south side of the river.
At the peak of work about 4, men were employed on the construction. It was long said that 57 died during the building of the bridge, although recent research by local historians indicated 63 would be a more accurate figure. The number of injuries is unknown, although one log book of accidents and sickness had 26, entries, and hundreds of workers were said to have been left crippled by serious accidents. Efforts were made to look after the welfare of the men, however.
Safety boats saved eight men from drowning. Boots and waterproofs were supplied to men working on the foundations, with thick woollen jackets, overalls and waterproof shoes given to those in superstructure work. When it was opened in it was the longest suspension bridge in Europe and the fourth longest in the world. The central span is 3,ft long, and is flanked by side spans each 1,ft long.
The total length between abutments, counting the viaducts at each end, is 8,ft. It used some 39, tons of steel about two thirds the amount used in the Forth Rail Bridge , not counting the 30, miles of wire, weighing 7, tons, in the suspension cables. The clearance for shipping below the centre of the bridge is ft, and ft near the towers. The cable-stayed Queensferry Crossing has two main spans of m each and two further spans of m each making it over m longer than the older road bridge , supported by three towers.
The towers themselves are over metres tall, making them by 40m the tallest bridge towers in the UK. Queensferry Crossing at First Light on 30 August The Forth Road Bridge from the South. Forth Bridges: www. Commemorative Plaque. The Forth Road Bridge in Summer.
Mr Swinney also announced the new bridge, which has been completely publicly funded, would be toll-free like all other road bridges in Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon, who was then deputy first minister, said the project would be completed by the end of The bridge's technical director Mike Glover said the weather in the Firth of Forth had been "particularly unkind", especially at the point when they were m in the air attaching cables. More than 15, people have been involved in the project since the inception of plans for a new bridge in The structure is m above high tide ft , equivalent to about 48 double decker buses stacked on top of each other.
The steel required for the bridge deck weighs a total of 35, tonnes - equivalent to almost Boeing s. The combined steel required for North and South viaducts weighs 7, tonnes - enough to make another 23 Kelpies. The bridge has windshielding to almost entirely eliminate the need for closures during the frequent periods of high winds in the Forth estuary.
Cables can be replaced with more ease than on the Forth Road Bridge - it can be done as part of normal maintenance works without closing the bridge. The foundations of the bridge are large caisson - circular steel structures - sunk into the mud of the estuary to bedrock level. The south caisson is the height of the Statue of Liberty. It is 35m in diameter and when it was constructed it was 50m in height.
At the southern tower they poured 16, cubic metres of concrete over a period of 15 days continuously from barges on the river. Once it is fully operational there will be no pedestrian access to the bridge, instead people will be able to walk across the existing Forth Road Bridge. However, an online ballot was held to select 50, people to walk across the new crossing on the weekend of Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September. The "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity attracted applications from more than , people, mainly from Scotland.
About 5, people entered have postcodes from elsewhere in the UK and the remaining are from the rest of the world, including the United States, India and one single entrant from Slovakia. In addition to this, a further 10, people from local schools and community groups on both sides of the Forth will be able to walk on the bridge on Tuesday 5 September, the day after its official opening by the Queen.
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