The Queensferry Crossing has closed to traffic as preparations begin for a series of opening events.

The first traffic passed over the 1.7 mile structure on Wednesday and Thursday, after construction began in 2011.

Traffic will now cross the Forth over the existing Forth Road Bridge until Thursday, September 7.

Over the weekend, around 50,000 people will be able to walk across the bridge as part of the Queensferry Crossing Experience.

More than 200,000 applied to take part in the "once in a lifetime experience" through an online ballot, with the winners selected at random.

The Queen will formally open the bridge on Monday, September 4, 53 years to the day since she opened the nearby Forth Road Bridge.

She will be joined by the Duke of Edinburgh and will cut a ribbon on the south side of the bridge.

A further 10,000 local people who live near the bridge will have the chance to walk across it on Tuesday.

As the Queensferry Crossing has no pedestrian walkway, the opening events are the only scheduled opportunities the public will have to cross the bridge on foot.

After September 7, the Forth Road Bridge will close for several weeks before reopening as a public transport corridor in early November.

When this takes place, the Queensferry Crossing will officially become a motorway.

On Wednesday, drivers on the roads around the bridge experienced heavy queues as sightseers flocked to the £1.35bn structure.

The Scottish Government's economy secretary Keith Brown said on Wednesday: "With the opening of the Queensferry Crossing, we are seeing the culmination of the biggest infrastructure project that Scotland has seen for a generation.

"The Scottish people have been so engaged with it at every step of its development.

"It is a fantastic structure and the weather this morning proved a perfect backdrop for all those who wanted to be a part of this historic day."