History
1040-1164
1068. North Queensferry , the Gaelic name of the original settlement here was Ardchinnechenan, takes its current name from Saint Margaret of Scotland, the wife of King Malcolm III of Scotland, who is said to have established the village to ensure there would be regular ferry crossings across the Firth of Forth for the benefit of pilgrims.
1070. The “Queen” in Queensferry was Queen Margaret the wife of Malcolm 111, (1058.1093). She set up a church in Dunfermline where she had married Malcolm in 1070. This rapidly became a place of pilgrimage leading to increasing demand for transport across the Forth Estuary. The Queen’s Ferry, paid for by Margaret and operated by monks from Dunfermline was the result.
1320- 1561
1320-23. The oldest building in North Queensferry is the nearby early 14th century Chapel of St James (‘the Greater’ – patron saint of pilgrims) founded by Robert the Bruce, abandoned after the Reformation and believed to have been destroyed by Parliamentarian troops in 1651. Very little remains standing.
The chapel at the North Queensferry landing point of Robert the Bruce in the 1300s was dedicated to Dunfermline Abbey by the first king of Scotland. Free passage on the ferry was granted to the Abbey’s priors and canons along with their monks and goods.
1364. By the early 14th century South Queensferry had become a Burgh of Regality
1700-1890
1700’s. In the mid 1700s the need for a road crossing of the Queensferry Passage was discussed seriously for the first time. Numerous plans to bridge the Firth of Forth were dreamed up, developed and discarded throughout the 18th century.
1810. Responsibility for the ferry passage had been transferred from the various individuals into the hands of a Board of Trustees in 1810. They ordered improvements to the service and to the various landing places on each side of the Firth to cater for the ever increasing number of passengers and vehicles. As early as 1929 a report on the possibility of a road crossing was produced.
1811. A report dated 15 May,
1923-1958
1923: With the steady advance of the motor age, the need for a road crossing over the Firth of Forth became more urgent than ever. Though he didn’t live to see the bridge built, J Inglis Ker was instrumental in its conception. Ker first presented his proposals at the Hawes Inn, South Queensferry in 1923. Crucially, he won the support of Sir Henry Maybury, Ministry of Transport, the following year.
1929. Work to investigate suitable sites for the road bridge began some five years after 30 Scottish MPs campaigned for the Ministry of Transport to agree to a survey. Messrs. Mott, Hay & Anderson was involved in the bridge plans from these very early days, the firm’s civil and structural engineers responsible for conducting these initial investigations.
1960-1964
1960. This further increased and by 1960, the Queen’s Ferry was handling over two million passengers a year and over 600,000 motor vehicles. Naturally, this number was ever increasing and it soon became apparent that another bridge would be required.
1960: When the building of the towers was under way, people flocked from near and far to watch the bridge begin to take shape. Bridge construction at the time was a daunting task and it was fascinating for folk on the ground to watch the brave builders scale the emerging structure.
1961: Once the cable anchorages had been bored into the rock on either side of the Forth and the bridge’s twin towers were in place, the cable spinning began.
1990-2002
1990: As the 20th century came to a close, the bridge’s twin towers were strengthened to cope with the increased weight of traffic now using the bridge. Since 1964 the maximum weight of goods vehicles had doubled from 22 to 44 tonnes. In 1990 the towers’ cross-bracing was strengthened and in 1998 a project to strengthen the tower legs to take the increased weight of vehicles was completed.
1993: In total, it cost £19.5 million to construct the Forth Road Bridge and its approach roads, of which £14.35 million was borrowed from central government. By December 1993, the monies collected in the bridge tolls since 1964 had repaid this debt. From this date on, toll revenue was invested in the maintenance, operation and improvement of the bridge.
1996: At the time the bridge was built,
2004-2009
2004: The Forth Road Bridge became the first suspension bridge in Europe to have its main cable opened up to check for signs of corrosion. The bridge authority was surprised to discover that 8-10% of the cable’s strength had been lost because of corrosion. Work to prevent further strength loss and reduce the possibility of future traffic restrictions began immediately.
2007: In December, the Scottish Government made public its plans to construct a new 21st century Forth road crossing alongside the existing bridge. The Forth Replacement Crossing project will protect an essential link in Scotland’s road network for future generations. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2011,
2010-present day
A third internal inspection in 2012 indicated that the rate at which the cables were losing strength had been minimised, and the margin of safety had not been significantly reduced since 2008. This gave reassurance that the dehumidification system was successfully preventing further corrosion of the bridge wires.
However cables will need to be continually monitored and inspected for the remainder of their service life as damage already done to the wires inside the cables cannot be repaired.