Major security operation as 50,000 people walk over Queensferry Crossing
Bag searches and restrictions in place for walkers
Security checks, bag searches and stringent restrictions face the 50,000 people who have won places to walk across the Queensferry Crossing today and tomorrow.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and transport minister Humza Yousaf will join some of the first to cross the 1.7-mile bridge around 9am.
Walkers will have to pass through a series of security points and anti-terrorism barriers placed across the bridge approaches.
They must also bring passports or other photo ID in addition to the personalised security passes containing their name and picture which they will have to wear on to special lanyards.
Bags and camera equipment will be searched and no food or drink will be allowed on the bridge or buses apart from 500ml of water per person.
Ms Sturgeon said: “It’s only right that the public get the chance of an up-close-andpersonal look at this amazing structure so they can see the stunning engineering and views for themselves.
“I look forward to joining some of the 50,000 people lucky enough to participate in this unique opportunity.”
Meanwhile, KT Tunstall and King Creosote will be among performers taking part in the official opening of the bridge by the Queen on Monday. The Fife musicians will appear together in a 40-minute set as part of the celebratory event in Rosyth.
It will follow the Queen cutting a ribbon on the south side of the bridge and unveiling a plaque at the north end.
A Red Arrows flypast will mark the opening, while a flotilla of 100 small boats and the Northern Lighthouse Board tender Pole Star will sail round the bridge’s central tower.
Others artists taking part in the opening event include Roddy Hart & The Lonesome Fire and Karine Polwart. Hart will also compere the Rosyth event, which will feature a specially-composed poem read by Scots Makar Jackie Kay.
An arena with 4,000-seat grandstand has been built beside the construction site offices at The Cube, just west of the bridge in Fife.
Bridge workers, local people and school pupils are among those invited to the two-hour event, which starts at 10:30am.
The Queen, who is due to be accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will be met at the South Queensferry end of the bridge by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Edinburgh Lord Provost Frank Ross, who is also the city’s Lord Lieutenant.
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland the Right Rev Dr Derek Browning will read a blessing before the Queen cuts a ribbon and is driven across the bridge.
Pete Irvine, who is organising the Rosyth event, said: “This is the response of Scotland’s cultural community to this fabulous piece of architecture.
“It’s going to be a very special event – for the workforce, people associated with the bridge, and the local community. It will be like a mini festival.”
Two five-minute films will also be shown, one by Leithbased Micky Macpherson on the bridge builders, featuring 50 pupils from Bankton Primary School in Livingston singing in hard hats in North Queensferry.
The other film, A Love Letter to Scotland’s Bridges, by Don Coutts, will include more than 40 from across the country, from the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick-upon-tweed to the Kylesku Bridge in Sutherland.
The Queensferry Crossing, which opened to traffic on Wednesday, closed yesterday and will not re-open to until early on Thursday. Traffic will use the Forth Road Bridge.
“It’s only right the public get the chance of an up-close-andpersonal look at this amazing structure to see the stunning engineering and views”
NICOLA STURGEON