NETWORK Rail has lodged initial plans for a £10 million visitor centre for the Forth Bridge.
The proposals centre on a 330ft high viewing platform.
The hair-raising plans are expected to lead to 80,000 visitors a year coming to climb the structure which will reach its 130th anniversary in 2020.
READ MORE: 10-year plan to boost tourism around Forth bridges
Network Rail is wants to take visitors onto the bridge on a regular basis for the first time, focussing on the "bridge climb" experience in South Queensferry.
Access is envisaged to be provided via an existing walkway under the south approach span and a new steel walkway positioned discreetly within the top member of the southern suspended span.
Visitors will move in groups of up to 15 from a new hub building near Hawes Brae and will be hooked on to the bridge using a harness and continuous safety line.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "Our plans for the Forth Bridge Experience are progressing well and we look forward to being able to open up this iconic structure to the public."
The initial plans for consultation with the community were approved by planners at Edinburgh City Council.
It has been suggested a detailed application will be submitted this summer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article