Scotland should be proud of new bridge

Sir, - Why is the Queensferry Crossing (June 22) to be closed to traffic for two days in early September to allow for a mass walk over the thoroughfare?

It seems that the Scottish Government was determined it would be open to traffic by the end of August, and so officials have done everything to ensure that was the case.

Would the reputation of the Government, or the future of the Scottish economy, have been shattered if the opening to traffic had been delayed for a few more weeks?

Instead we have an almost ridiculous example of the cart being put before the horse.

The bridge will be opened for vehicles to cross, then closed for two days, then opened again for vehicles. You couldn’t make this up.

Notwithstanding all that, I want to express my joy that this major project is shortly to be completed.

I have crossed the existing road bridge by bus almost weekly in the last two years and never cease to wonder at the spectacle on both sides.

It is interesting to note that a five-year-old gazing at the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890 would have been nearly 80 when the Forth Road Bridge opened in 1964 and would surely have wondered at the progress we have made in transport.

Nobody will be old enough to have witnessed the opening of all three ventures but we have heard from engineers who have worked on the construction of both road bridges.

That sense of continuity is something Scotland can be rightly proud of as we welcome the completion of a major technological feat.

Picture: Press Association. The new Queensferry Crossing is due to open at the end of August.