THE NEW bridge at Kincardine is on schedule to open in November, according to the Government agency behind the project.

Transport Scotland confirmed yesterday that all of the main infrastructure leading to and from the upper Forth crossing has been completed.

Contractors are putting the finishing touches to the new bridge and its approaches, including street lighting and road surfacing.

A spokesman told The Courier, “The project remains on schedule to complete in November.”

Work started in summer 2006 and has been ahead of schedule for much of the time and completion looks likely to hit the target date of November 5.

The £120 million project has involved driving 25 supporting piers into the riverbed and then pushing the decking out over the river in small stages.

The 1.2 kilometre deck stretches from Kincardine on the Fife side of the Forth to Airth at the Falkirk side.

About four miles of approach roads have also been built, including a roundabout at Higgin’s Neuk on the south side.

Traffic heading for Fife and the east will use the original Kincardine bridge, while vehicles bound for Clackmannanshire will branch off at Higgin’s Neuk and use the new crossing.

One of the key aims of the new bridge is to reduce traffic congestion in and around Kincardine, one of the most polluted villages in Scotland.

A name has still to be chosen for the bridge, with Fife and Clackmannanshire councils both claiming the structure for their respective regions.

Councillor Willie Ferguson, in whose Kincardine constituency the bridge makes landfall, won backing from his Fife Council colleagues for his campaign to call it the Kingdom Bridge.

Clackmannanshire Council has also run a high profile campaign and enlisted the support of some well-known faces, including football pundit Alan Hansen.