Technically-complex piece of Queensferry Crossing put in place

  • Published
Queensferry Crossing Pic: Lisa Summers

Engineers constructing the new Queensferry Crossing have completed one of the most technically-complex parts of the operation.

The north side of the bridge has now been pushed forward to rest on piers over the Firth of Forth.

It leaves a 64m (210ft) gap which in a few months will connect with the roadway at the north tower.

Officials said it had been a hugely complex operation to move 6,000 tonnes of steel out across the Forth.

The north viaduct, as it is called, has been pushed over 230m (755ft) into position on piers in the water.

The viaduct also had to be rotated and pivoted upwards to ensure it rolled over the top of the piers.

It now leaves a gap between the carriageways at the Fife side of the bridge that will be connected over the next two or three months.

It requires four deck sections to be lifted and fixed from the north tower.

With the deck-lifting section almost 50% complete, ministers said the £1.4bn crossing was on schedule to open to traffic in December.

Public transport

Jared Carlson, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors section engineer for the north viaduct, said: "When we launched the bridge it was coming into the first pier 2m (6.6ft) low.

"So we put the back end on a ramp and pushed it down this ramp and the front of the the bridge came up 2m and the back went down and that allowed it to go into the position it's in today."

Keith Brown, Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, said: "One of the crucial differences in the way this is being built is that it will very rarely, if ever, be closed because of high winds which happens regularly to the existing bridge because we are in the middle of the Forth here and we get high winds.

"It will be a motorway allowing all vehicles of all weights to cross. We'll use the existing bridge for public transport and this will be part of the motorway network, although a very spectacular part."

David Climie, Transport Scotland project director, said: "There are only four deck units on that side but because it's what we call a balanced cantilever we have to put deck units up either side of the tower to make sure we don't bend the tower basically.

"So there's eight units. We have to erect four to the north and four to the south before we can complete that connection."

Related Internet Links

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.