Lighting display was temporary

Lighting which has spectacularly illuminated the Queensferry Crossing is only temporary, it has been confirmed.

The equipment used for a special event to mark the bridge being handed over to the Scottish Government on Monday night is to be dismantled.

However, permanent lighting will include LED illumination along the length of the outside of the roadways, which is still to be completed.

There is also low-level lighting on the approach viaducts as far as the bridge’s two outer towers. The towers will also be lit at carriageway level.

A spokesman for the government’s Transport Scotland agency said: “The lights are a temporary installation – they are not permanent.

“As we told the [Scottish Parliament’s] rural affairs and connectivity committee in June, it is our intention to provide a full breakdown of costs once they are finalised, and the contractors will assist with those costs.

“These costs will be accommodated within the existing project budget.”

Meanwhile, the agency said it had been decided that the bases of the three towers, which are up to 210m high, did not need extra protection against collision damage from shipping in the Forth, unlike those on the Forth Road Bridge.

A spokesman said: “The towers on the Queensferry Crossing have been extensively analysed for ship impact loadings in the design, so do not require the additional fendering system which was retrofitted to the Forth Road Bridge some years ago.”

The new bridge’s cablestayed design, which has been widely praised, was a collaboration between several firms in a joint venture as part of the project’s main contract.

Peter Curran of Danish firm Ramboll is design joint venture project director, with Sweco of Sweden and Leonhardt Andra and Partners of Germany also involved.