Before the construction of the bridge, the only alternative route between Edinburgh and Fife involved the ferry at Queensferry. The construction of a rail bridge began in 1882 and when it opened it had the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world, as well as the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of steel. At the height of its construction, more than 4,000 men were employed, using 55,000 tonnes of steel, 140,000 cubic metres of masonry and 6.5million rivets. Load testing of the completed bridge was carried out using two trains each consisting of three heavy locomotives and 50 wagons loaded with coal, totalling 1,880 tonnes, this represented more than twice the design load of the bridge. The deflection under load was as expected. The construction of the bridge resulted in an unbroken East Coast railway route from London to Aberdeen reducing journey time from 13hours to 10½ hours.

On 5 July 2015, UNESCO inscribed the bridge as a World Heritage Site, recognising it as “an extraordinary and impressive milestone in bridge design and construction.

In 2016 it was voted Scotland’s greatest man-made wonder.