Villagers who live at the foot of the Forth Bridge fear their community will be unable to cope with an influx of even more tourists.
A visitor centre is planned for North Queensferry that could bring up to 220,000 tourists annually to the 125-year-old structure, which is in the running for Unesco world heritage site status.
But a local group formed to protect the village says it is often already overwhelmed by traffic for the Deep Sea World visitor attraction.
Help Our North Queensferry spoke out following an update from Network Rail on its proposal and the lodging of a planning application by Fife Council to create floating pontoons for passenger ferries and cruise ship tenders.
A spokesman for the group, who did not wish to be named, said: “Our over-arching concern is the impact on the village from traffic, in particular from the large volume of projected bus journeys and car-borne visitors.
“The village already suffers from, albeit necessarily, noise, vibration and speeding from the local bus service.
“The significant inconvenience which is experienced as result of the Deep Sea World shuttle bus will be amplified by the new visitor centre, all to the detriment of both residents and visitors.
“We fear that the local road network is just not capable of accommodating the projected large volume of cars, buses and service vehicles without having a material impact on the village.
“Lessons have been learned from the way in which Deep Sea World has impacted on the village. On busy days this dominates, and sometimes overwhelms, our village.”
The group has raised awareness of the proposal in the village and urged people to take part in the consultation process.
The spokesman added: “We wish to fully participate in the consultation process in a transparent and representative way and would hope our engagement with Network Rail can seek to jointly minimise the pending impact of the visitor centre proposals should planning consent be granted.”
Network Rail intends to submit a planning application for a visitor centre under the north tower, connected to a platform on the Fife tower by two hoists, near the end of this year.
In a community update newsletter it outlined proposals to create parking facilities outwith the village, served by a shuttle bus, and to encourage visitors to arrive by train as part of the experience.
Fife Council’s proposal would see the construction of a floating landing platform, access bridge and walkway by July next year.
It intends to encourage those arriving by car to use the Battery Road car park and ruled out pontoon uses which would create road traffic, including a proposed water taxi service.