Britain's tallest bridge, £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing, opens to traffic (with a few delays)

Today sees the opening of Scotland’s largest and most expensive infrastructure project: the Queensferry Crossing. It’s the tallest bridge in Britain, at a height of 210m (689ft) and the longest of its type in the world, at 1.6 miles (2.7km).

The bridge has currently been restricted to 40mph, as operators are worried the beauty of the bridge will distract drivers. It’s already been called a ‘thing of beauty’ and a ‘stunning bridge’ by motorists. Next week when it reopens, it will be set at the standard motorway speed of 70mph.

It has taken 10 years of planning, six years of building and 20 million man hours to complete the new bridge, which was opened just before 2am this morning.

When the Queen officially opens the crossing on Monday September 4, it will also be the 53rd anniversary of the day she opened the old Forth Road Bridge.

The finished crossing has cost £1.3 billion to construct, which puts it up there with the most expensive bridges in the world. However, the projected cost was thought to be in the region of £3.2-£4.2 billion, which was reduced when developers realised they could keep the old bridge in place for public transport instead.