Almost there... Queensferry bridge gets final touches as royal opening day looms
EVERYONE likes to look their best for a date with royalty.
And it seems engineers on the Queensferry Crossing are determined the £1.35billion bridge will be fit for the Queen when she performs the opening next month.
Workers were yesterday putting the finishing touches to the bridge across the Forth, which was due to open last December but delayed because of bad weather.
Her Majesty will now do the honours on September 4 – exactly 53 years to the day since she opened the neighbouring Forth Road Bridge.
The new bridge opens on Wednesday, August 30, but will close on September 2 for the celebrations before reopening to vehicles four days later.
Thousands of schoolchildren will get the chance to walk over the crossing the day after it is officially opened. They will be among 10,000 from the local community who will take to the bridge on foot as part of the celebrations.
That follows an event called the Queensferry Crossing Experience, which will see 50,000 people walking over the bridge – which will not normally be open to pedestrians – over the weekend of September 2 and 3.
Economy Secretary Keith Brown said the event for schoolchildren was being held following feedback from the local communities and ‘due to the phenomenal demand generated by the Queensferry Crossing Experience ballot process’.
He added that the community event would take place while the bridge is closed off to traffic to ‘minimise disruption but ensure the feelgood factor isn’t lost’.