A third Forth bridge connects Fife and the Lothians.

Cheers as last of deck sections put in place for Queensferry Crossing

A massive cheer from the workforce marked the landmark moment Fife was connected to the Lothians by the third Forth bridge.

Friday saw the last of 122 deck sections carefully manoeuvred into place in the gap between the south tower and Edinburgh side of the £1.325 billion crossing.

Watching the preparations for the historic moment, economy secretary Keith Brown said it was a privilege to see the milestone event.

“The public have been fascinated by the spectacular progress on the Queensferry Crossing,” he said.

“While there is a lot of work left before opening to traffic in May, completing the deck represents a true landmark moment that we’ve all been looking forward to.

“It’s the moment Fife and Edinburgh are connected by a third, stunning structure across the wide waters of the Forth.”

Struck by the “expertise and endeavour” of the workforce, he said everyone involved in the flagship project should be very proud.

Michael Martin, project director for the Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors, said the final deck lift was the culmination of a “world class team effort” stretching back to the day construction work started in 2011.

The final closure is always one of the most significant milestones in any bridge construction programme.

“On a bridge of this magnificent scale, well, it’s more than a bit special.

“It is a real pleasure to pay tribute to the skill and dedication of everybody involved and to congratulate them on an outstanding achievement.”

On the day the deck finally wound a continuous path from north to south of the river, Mr Martin added that the vast workforce was now focused on completing the huge range of finishing works and bringing the project to a successful conclusion.

Fine weather meant the longanticipated last deck section, weighing 750 tonnes, could be slotted in.

It was the last of 122 deck pieces to be engineered into place.

The first dozen were lifted into position by a floating crane in October 2014, with the other 110 segments starting to be positioned from September 2015.

Each of the decks are around 40m wide and 16m in length, although the final piece of the massive jigsaw, the closure unit which was positioned yesterday, is 12.1m long.

Despite the sheer scale of each piece, every deck section has had to be installed within very fine margins and to tiny tolerances.

Picture: Dougie Nicolson.