Queensferry Crossing: Facts & Figures

World Class & World Record Breaking

The Queensferry Crossing boasts some impressive facts and figures.

The structure spans 1.7 miles (2.7km) making it the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world.
The biggest infrastructure project in Scotland for a generation.
New world record in 2013 when we achieved the largest continuous underwater concrete pour. The 24-hour non-stop operation successfully poured 16,869 cubic metres of concrete into the water-filled south tower caisson.
Prior to the completion of the final closure sections on the deck, the balanced cantilevers which extend 322m north and south from the central tower, i.e. 644m tip to tip, were recorded by Guinness as the longest ever.
Highest bridge towers in the UK. (210m)
The longest free-standing balanced cantilever in the world. (Centre Tower deck fan was 644m wide prior to being connected to the rest of the structure)

Queensferry Crossing in Numbers

15...days of pouring concrete 24/7 to achieve the Queensferry Crossing's first world record for the longest continuous underwater pour. The concrete was poured to the foundations of the South Tower.
23...Kelpies could be built using the same amount of steel required in the build of the north and south viaducts (the start and end of the Crossing). 7,000 tonnes of steel were used just for these sections.
25...percent higher than the Forth Road Bridge. The Queensferry Crossing is 207 metres above high tide (683ft), which is 50 metres higher than the Road Bridge.
48...London Buses that you would need to stack on top of each other to reach the same height as the towers of the Queensferry Crossing.
65...options were considered before the cable-stayed bridge design of the Queensferry Crossing was selected as the best to proceed with.
122...deck sections which make up the bridge deck. Each one of these sections can weigh up to 750 tonnes!
200...Boeing 747 planes are the equivalent weight of the amount of steel required for the bridge deck.
23,000...miles of cabling used. Laying out all the wire used to support the bridge deck would very nearly stretch around the entire planet Earth.
35,000 …tonnes of steel used in the bridge superstructure AND people who voted in the Name the Bridge process.
150,000...tonnes of concrete poured over the course of the project. This is nearly the same amount used for the entire London Olympic Park and Athletes Village.
10,000,000...staff hours (approximately) that were involved in the construction.

Managed Motorways

The overall scheme is 13.7 miles (22km) long, which includes major motorway upgrades to the north and south of the bridge.
First-ever use of variable mandatory speed limits in Scotland to smooth traffic congestion via an Intelligent Transport System. This also controls dedicated bus lanes within the motorway hard shoulders – another first in Scotland.
The combination of overhead gantry-mounted infrastructure at 50 regularly spaced locations across the corridor and verge-mounted infrastructure providing benefits in emission reduction, improved journey times (between 5 and 10-minute reductions already evidenced on Fife ITS and M9 J1a schemes) and journey time reliability, as well as improved safety through reduction in the number of accidents.

The People who Built the Bridge

Principal contractor Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC) – comprising Hochtief (Germany), American Bridge (US), Dragados (Spain) and Morrison (Scotland) and its sub-contractors will clock more than 10 million staff hours in completing the project.
More than 1.9 million staff hours spent by the Scottish Government’s engineering consultants Jacobs Arup. Involving over 1,700 staff globally – including Jacobs and Arup experts from North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.

Queensferry Crossing Engineering Facts

Although the central tower of the bridge is constructed on top of Beamer Rock in the centre of the Firth of Forth, the two flanking towers are each actually founded below riverbed level on a giant steel cylinder, the largest being the height of the Statue of Liberty.
The structure rises 210 metres above high tide (683ft), equivalent to approximately 48 London buses stacked on top of each other.
Over 23,000 miles of cabling will have been used on the bridge, which is almost the same distance as the circumference of the earth at the equator (24,874 miles).
concrete batching plant on Rosyth docks was producing 120 cubic metres of concrete every hour.
Concrete barges pouring the South Tower underwater foundation made 273 separate journeys continuously to and from Rosyth, covering almost 2,000 kilometres - roughly the same distance as John O'Groats to Land's End.
Over 2,500 concrete pours executed across the project since June 2012, latterly pumping to heights of above 200m for the three towers.
21 of the pours in excess of 1,000m3
3 CEEQUAL Excellent Awards.

Queensferry Crossing: Facts & Figures

World Class & World Record Breaking

Queensferry Crossing in Numbers

Managed Motorways

The People who Built the Bridge

Michael Martin, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors

Queensferry Crossing Engineering Facts