It has been a milestone year for the £1.4 billion project to build a bridge across the Forth.
As the public will start to see the three towers emerge from the waves in 2014, the team have been looking back at what was the busiest and record beating year for the Queensferry Crossing, which is being hailed as a “once-in-a-lifetime” project.
Milestones include:The completion and opening of the M9 Junction 1A ahead of schedule Foundation work on the main crossing towers completed World record underwater concrete pour First sections of south approach viaduct launched The public choosing the name for the new bridge as Queensferry CrossingRevealing the bridge is still on target to be completed by the end of 2016, Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “This has been a very busy year for Scotland’s largest project in a generation and we have seen fantastic progress over the last 12 months.”
He said major road upgrades on both the north and south of the Forth were now complete, with the M9 Junction 1A opened ahead of schedule on February 1, marking the completion of the second of the three bridge contracts.
“Out on the water, the main crossing has started to take shape.
“Just over a year ago there were no foundations and we were in the challenging process of precisely locating huge steel caissons and cofferdams on the estuary bed.
“Now on, the caissons and the Beamer Rock cofferdam for the main towers have been drained of water and the towers are beginning to rise up.
“In doing this, we have seen a world record set for the largest continuous underwater concrete pour 16,869m poured non-stop over 15 days on the south tower.”
Meanwhile, on land, the first sections of the southern approach viaducts are now ready for launch, marking the first appearance of the actual bridge deck and the start of the bridge itself.
“Elsewhere, the huge beams for the South Queensferry gyratory bridges have been lifted into place.”
It was on a blazing hot day last June that First Minister Alex Salmond announced the public’s choice for the name for the new bridge.
This ended the popular Name the Bridge process, which saw 35,000 people voting on a shortlist of names taken from 7,600 original suggestions.
The Queensferry Crossing will join the Forth Bridge and Forth Road Bridge as a trinity of bridges spanning three centuries.
Mr Brown said the progress was being achieved through the dedication and hard work of the hundreds of workers employed on the vast project.