New bridge over upper Forth opens

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The £120m Clackmannanshire Bridge has been finished and will open to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.

A new road bridge across the upper Forth has been opened by First Minister Alex Salmond.

The £120m Clackmannanshire Bridge will be open to vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians.

The new crossing, which will be an alternative to the existing Kincardine bridge, is designed to take traffic away from a notorious bottleneck.

About 20,000 vehicles a day are expected to use it, while 18,000 will continue to use the Kincardine Bridge.

Before the bridge's opening more than 16,500 vehicles passed through Kincardine village every day.

The new bridge will by-pass the village and Transport Scotland said this number was expected to drop by more than 80% to 2,800.

'Unique gateway'

However, villagers in nearby Kinross-shire have expressed concerns about potential increases in traffic.

They have petitioned Holyrood to call for the the A977 to be redesigned.

They want to see about £1.5m spent to build three large roundabouts on the A977, as well as smaller safety measures, to make it less attractive to lorry drivers.

The signatures have come from villages such as Blairingone, Powmill, Crook of Devon, Drum and Balado, which are expecting a big increase in bridge traffic.

The opening of the new bridge will also see Clackmannanshire joined to the motorway network for the first time.

Mr Salmond said: "This is a world-class infrastructure project which will cut journey times, improve central Scotland connections, and provide a unique gateway to Clackmannanshire, Fife and Falkirk.

"For local communities the Clackmannanshire Bridge will deliver not only visitors, but safer roads and environmental benefits.

"It will remove the long-standing congestion from the centre of Kincardine and encourage safe cycling, whilst benefitting local businesses."

Clackmannanshire Council is hopeful the new bridge will also bring financial benefits to the Wee County.

Among those attending the bridge's opening was trainee engineer Joseph McDermott. He is the second generation in his family to work on a local bridge, as his grandfather worked on the Kincardine Bridge.