The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge over the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, to the east of the Forth Road Bridge, and 14 kilometres (9 mi) west of central Edinburgh. It was opened on 4 March 1890, and spans a total length of 2,528.7 metres (8,296 ft). It is often called the Forth Rail Bridge or Forth Railway Bridge to distinguish it from the Forth Road Bridge, although it has been called the "Forth Bridge" since its construction, and was for over seventy years the sole claimant to this name.
The bridge connects Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, with Fife, leaving the Lothians at Dalmeny and arriving in Fife at North Queensferry; it acts as a major artery connecting the north-east and south-east of the country. Described by the Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland as "the one immediately and internationally recognised Scottish landmark", it is a Category A listed building and was nominated by the British government in May 2011 for addition to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Scotland.
Until 1917, when the Quebec Bridge was completed, the Forth Bridge had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world. It still has the world's second-longest single span. The bridge and its associated railway infrastructure is owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Limited.
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“Crime seems to change character when it crosses a bridge or a tunnel. In the city, crime is taken as emblematic of class and race. In the suburbs, though, its intimate and psychologicalresistant to generalization, a mystery of the individual soul.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)