AS the Queensferry Crossing opened, it was disappointing that some Scottish politicians were still sniping at the delays to the project completion.

This bridge is located at one of the windiest estuaries in Scotland, and the main delay to construction progress has been the cessation of work due to high winds. I am old enough to remember January 14, 1968, when the wind gauge on the Forth Bridge, the railway structure, stuck at 114 mph.

The professional engineers who designed, scoped, and priced the costs to complete the Queensferry Crossing used weather records to assess the downtime allowance.

They made an estimate, a judgment, from available information, but the weather, over which they had no control, turned out differently, hence the delays. Due allowance has been made for future winds using "wind barriers installed to withstand the strongest gusts and avoid wind closure" (“Forth's bridges to bring tourism boost”, The Herald, August 29). The civil engineering profession is not good at blowing its own trumpet, but this is a project which deserves trumpet blowing.

Alasdair MacLennan, chartered civil engineer (retired),

18 St Thomas's Well, Stirling.

NOW listen carefully and pay attention. As we hail and praise the new Queensferry Crossing bridge as the third Forth bridge, we should note that it is indeed the fifth Forth bridge( by adding the older Kincardine Bridge and the Clackmannanshire Bridge to the new Forth bridge plus the iconic railway bridge and the older Forth Road Bridge).

Thus the new Forth bridge is the fifth Forth bridge but it is the fourth Forth road bridge. Are we clear now?

Thom Cross,

18 Needle Green, Carluke.