Queensferry Crossing to open on 30 August

The new Queensferry Crossing over the Firth of Forth will open to traffic on 30 August.

The £1.35bn bridge will then close temporarily to give the public a "once in a lifetime" chance to walk over it on 2 and 3 September.

There are 50,000 spaces for the Queensferry Crossing Experience, which will be allocated by a ballot.

The route will be given motorway status once public transport links north of the Forth Road Bridge are completed.

Within hours of the ballot opening, 50,000 people had applied from more than 25 countries.

The new road network feeding into the south end of the new crossing

The crossing will replace the Forth Road Bridge as the main road route between Edinburgh and Fife.

The speed limit will initially be 40mph but it is understood the new crossing will become a motorway with a 70mph speed limit in September.

The bridge was originally due to open in December, however, the completion date was delayed twice due to "adverse weather conditions".

The new road network feeding into the north end of the new crossing

Economy Secretary Keith Brown said: "I am very pleased to be able to confirm the Queensferry Crossing will open 30 August 2017.

"The bridge will be used by vehicles up to 1 September, before closing to allow the public the chance to walk across it as part of the Queensferry Crossing Experience on 2 and 3 September.

"This Queensferry Crossing Experience will allow for up to 50,000 people to have the once in a lifetime chance to walk across the Queensferry Crossing before it becomes a motorway with no pedestrian access."

Queensferry Crossing - fact and figures

The structure is 207m above high tide (683ft), equivalent to about 48 double decker buses stacked on top of each other.

It is 50m (25%) higher than the existing Forth Road Bridge

The steel required for the bridge deck weighs a total of 35,000 tonnes -equivalent to almost 200 Boeing 747s

The combined steel required for North and South viaducts weighs 7,000 tonnes - enough to make another 23 Kelpies.

The bridge has windshielding to almost entirely eliminate the need for closures during the frequent periods of high winds in the Forth estuary

Cables can be replaced with more ease than on the Forth Road Bridge - it can be done as part of normal maintenance works without closing the bridge.

Michael Martin, project director for the consortium building the Queensferry Crossing, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors (FCBC), said: "The Queensferry Crossing is one of the world's great bridges.

"It's the largest bridge of its type and its fast track design and construction has presented many challenges.

"The safety of our workforce, who have worked relentlessly through the hostile weather conditions in the Forth estuary to deliver the earliest completion of this project, has always been our number one priority and it will continue to be so as move towards the completion of the project."