It replaced a centuries-old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists and pedestrians across the Forth; railway crossings are made by the nearby Forth Bridge, opened in 1890.

[6] The adjacent Queensferry Crossing was opened in August 2017 to carry the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth, replacing the Forth Road Bridge which had exceeded its design capacity.

It reopened in February 2018, now redesignated as a dedicated Public Transport Corridor, with access to motor vehicles other than buses and taxis restricted;[a] pedestrians and cyclists are still permitted to use the bridge.

[9] In May 2023, Stagecoach Fife started the first driverless bus service to carry passengers in the United Kingdom along a park-and-ride route which includes the Forth Road Bridge as its main section.

[10][11] The first crossing at the site of the bridge was established in the 11th century by Margaret, queen consort of King Malcolm III, who founded a ferry service to transport religious pilgrims from Edinburgh to Dunfermline Abbey and St Andrews.

The 4+1⁄2-mile (7.2 km) southern approach road of the A90 began at Cramond Bridge, over the River Almond on the western outskirts of Edinburgh, near Craigiehall.

The 4 mi (6 km) northern approach road had three two-level junctions at Ferry Toll[24] (for the B980), Admiralty (for Rosyth Dockyard via the A985, and Inverkeithing via the A921) and at Mastertown/Masterton (for what would be the fledgling M90 southern terminus).

The bridge's management was delegated to the FRBJB, and remained so until 2002 when its operation was transferred to a new body with a wider remit, the Forth Estuary Transport Authority.

[32] Forth Estuary Transport Authority (FETA) began to be concerned over the structural wear of the bridge in the early years of the 21st century.

The planned theoretical capacity for the bridge (30,000 vehicles per day in each direction) was routinely exceeded as traffic levels outstripped predictions.

[33] In 2003, an inspection programme was launched (costing £1.2 million) to assess the condition of the main suspension cables after corrosion was discovered in a number of older bridges in the United States of a similar design and size.

In January 2006, the Scottish Executive completed a third-party audit on the bridge which concluded that FETA had performed the initial internal inspection and cable strength calculation in accordance with accepted practice.

It was initially not expected to reopen until January 2016, and Transport Scotland began work to lay on extra trains and buses and considered whether to reintroduce a ferry service to mitigate the impact on travellers.

On 4 February, it was announced this had been pushed back to March,[43][44] due to further problems with the truss end link pins in the southern towers, which required additional remedial work.

[50] Evidence was heard from FETA, Transport Minister Derek Mackay, engineers and officials from Amey along with a number of other experts and key personnel.

On the first day, Richard Hornby, of engineering consulting firm Arup, stated that the truss end in question had been inspected 23 times since 2001, and no fault had been found.

[51][52] Several witnesses defended a decision by previous operator FETA not to proceed with a £15 million truss end link replacement project in 2010.

[54][55] The strategic transport importance of the road bridge and the threat of closure by 2020 if major structural work were not undertaken led to fears of serious economic consequences.

[62] The Queensferry Crossing has proofing that makes it less vulnerable to high winds than the Forth Road Bridge, but it was closed for the first time in February 2020 due to accumulations of ice on its towers.

[62] On 22 November 2018, it was announced that £4.35 million of funding had been secured for the United Kingdom's first passenger-carrying driverless bus trial, planned to take place across the Forth Road Bridge public transport corridor by 2021.

[63] Five brand new autonomous 42-seater Alexander Dennis Enviro200AV single-decker buses, with autonomous control modifications supplied by Fusion Processing, are operated by Stagecoach Fife on a 14 miles (23 km) park-and-ride route in mixed traffic at up to 50 mph (80 km/h) between Inverkeithing, on the north side of the Forth, and Edinburgh Park Transport Exchange, across the bridge.

[72] According to FETA's chairman Lawrence Marshall, the system would provide the most efficiency; he said that 80% of peak-time journeys are made by single-occupant vehicles.

The proposal, passed with the chairman's casting vote after the committee was deadlocked, was referred to the Scottish Executive in December 2005, and implementation planned for October 2007 subject to approval by Transport Minister Tavish Scott.

[73] The Scottish Parliament debated the proposals in January 2006, and the affair became a major political issue after UK Cabinet Ministers Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of State for Scotland respectively) were seen to describe the variable tolling plan as "dead in the water".

Afterwards, media speculated that the Executive had turned against the proposals, and Tavish Scott eventually confirmed their rejection and the retention of the existing toll structure on 1 March 2006.

[77] The Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 3 September 2007, passed on 20 December 2007, and received royal assent on 24 January 2008.