Communities on both sides of river celebrate 60 years of the Forth Road Bridge

The 60th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge is being marked with a series of events involving local communities on both sides of the Firth of Forth.

The iconic crossing opened to traffic for the first time on September 4 1964.

Nearly 40,000 tonnes of steel and 125,000 cubic metres of concrete went into the bridge’s construction. 30,000 miles of high-tensile steel wires were spun together to make up the main cables.

The final bill for construction amounted to £19.5m, which amounts to around £350m in today’s currency.

At the time of opening it was the first bridge of its kind in the UK, the longest outside the USA, and the fourth longest in the world.

Following the construction of the Queensferry Crossing in 2017, the Forth Road Bridge was redesignated as a public transport corridor in 2018 following repairs and as such, is only used by taxis, buses, pedestrians and cyclists.

However the bridge still remains a large part of the River Forth landscape, joined by the Forth Rail Bridge to its east and the Queensferry Crossing to the west.

On Wednesday, cabinet secretary for transport Fiona Hyslop met with local school children and community representatives from North and South Queensferry who are rowing under the middle of the bridge to mark the 60th anniversary.

Competition winners are taking part in tower top trips throughout the day and an exhibition, showcasing the history of the bridge, has opened to former workers and members of the public.

The events continue this weekend, with a fleet of vintage buses from Dunfermline Transport Museum offering free trips across the Forth Road Bridge on Saturday September 7.

Hyslop said: “It has been fantastic to be part of the celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge alongside the members of the communities on both sides of the Forth.

“This iconic crossing has long been part of local landscape and it’s great to see so many people helping to mark its six decades of service to the travelling public.

“The celebrations continue this weekend with the vintage bus event, and I am sure it will be another fitting way to mark the occasion.

“The Forth Road Bridge clearly plays a different role now than it did 60 years ago, but there is no doubt that it still has an important job as a public transport corridor as well as providing important resilience to the trunk road network. I look forward to it continuing these roles for years to come.”

David Bishop, south east unit bridges manager for operating company BEAR Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating 60 years of the Forth Road Bridge. This is still one of the world’s most significant long span suspension bridges and it’s an honour for us as engineers to be responsible for maintaining it.

“The bridge has worked hard over the years, connecting communities in Fife and Lothian while carrying a significantly greater weight and volume of traffic than it was originally designed for.

“We look forward to ensuring it continues to provide good service for decades to come.”