LONDON
(Reuters) - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth formally opened Scotland’s biggest
infrastructure project in a generation - the third bridge across the River
Forth - on
Monday, exactly 53 years after she opened the second.
The
91-year-old monarch met with workers and school children who had gathered on
the bridge before cutting a blue ribbon to mark its opening, as a flotilla
passed underneath and the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows display jets flew
overhead.
The 1.35
billion-pound ($1.7 billion) Queensferry Crossing, the longest bridge of its
type in the world at 1.7 miles (2.7 km), connects the capital Edinburgh to
Scotland’s north.
The Queen
described all three “magnificent structures” crossing the River Forth, built in
three separate centuries, as “feats of modern engineering”.
“The
Queensferry crossing joins its iconic and historic neighbors to create not only
a breathtaking sight across the Firth of Forth, but to provide an important
link for so many in this community and the surrounding areas,” she said in a
statement.
Built with
35,000 tonnes of steel and 150,000 tonnes of concrete, the crossing reaches 210
meters (690 ft) above high tide, standing as tall as about 48 London buses
stacked on top of each other. Barriers deflect the wind and shield vehicles
from the huge gusts common on the Forth.
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