page_title: Queensferry Crossing
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Queensferry Crossing / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Queensferry Crossing seen from the North.
context_page_description: The Queensferry 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, to meet unexpected demand, were first put forward in the 1990s, but no action was taken until structural issues were discovered in the Forth Road Bridge in 2004. In 2006-2007 Transport Scotland carried out a study and in December 2007, took the decision 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 contract and construction 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. Around 4 kilometres of new connecting roads were built, including new and upgraded junctions at Ferrytoll in Fife, South Queensferry and Junction 1A on the M9.
context_section_description: Preparatory works for the new bridge began in September 2011 with works beginning at the southern end of the M90 to build the northern approach roads. 149 segments of bridge deck, each of which is 12 metres (39 ft) long and 40 metres (130 ft) wide, were constructed in China and Spain, then delivered by sea in October 2013. The approach steel bridge sections were manufactured by Cleveland Bridge UK in Darlington.
  The towers reached 160 metres (525 ft) in height in August 2015, making it the UK's tallest bridge. The completed towers stand at 207 metres (679 ft).
  On 28 April 2016, one construction worker was killed and another injured in an accident involving a crane. Work on the bridge was halted to allow an investigation to take place.
  The bridge was due to be completed by December 2016, but that date was put back to May 2017 due to weather delays slowing construction, with 25 days lost due to high winds during April and May 2016. An additional delay was announced in March 2017 again due to weather (more specifically, high winds) and an estimation period of six weeks in July / August 2017 was proposed.
  The bridge opened on 30 August 2017 and 
  formally opened by the Queen on 4 September 2017.
caption: The Queensferry Crossing in March 2017
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