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"It will last for ever if you look after it.” - Sir William Arrol
The Forth Bridge is a technological man-made wonder and a unique icon of Scotland. It was the first major structure to be built from mild steel which is cost-effective, reliable and still popular today.
Forth Bridge in numbers
- The bridge is 100 metres tall (328 feet) and 2,529 metres long (8,296 feet).
- Around 200 trains cross every day up to 50 mph (80 km/h).
- It was built with 50,000 tonnes of mild steel, with around 6% recycled.
- Around 6,000,000 rivets hold it together.
The history of the Forth Bridge
Learn more about the history of this iconic bridge.
- What you see today is not the original design.
- The Tay Bridge rail disaster in 1879 saw the bridge over the Firth of Tay collapse.
- The creator, Sir Thomas Bouch had just started work on the Forth Bridge.
- New designs were invited – looking for strength and safety to help reassure future passengers.
- Existing bridge was picked for the elegance and rigidity of the cantilever design which used mild steel on an unprecedented scale.
- The men who built the bridge were known as the ‘briggers’.
TIMELINE
- 1890 - Forth Bridge opened
- 1964 - Forth Road Bridge opened
- 2015 - Forth Bridge given UNESCO World Heritage Site status
- 2017 - Queensferry Crossing opened