First Minister Alex Salmond will be joined by schoolchildren as he opens Scotland’s newest bridge this morning.

Mr Salmond will lead a convoy across the £120 million Clackmannanshire Bridge to mark its formal completion.

It has taken contractors two years to build, but has been many years in the planning.

The bridge deck was pushed out over a series of supporting columns which were driven into the River Forth.

It is the second largest bridge of its kind in the world.

The First Minister is to be joined by Transport Scotland chief executive Malcolm Reed and Eric Chambraud, managing director of contractors Morgan Vinci.

He will then lead a convoy, including the children, an electric car and a cyclist, the 2.4 kilometres across the bridge.

Dave Reid, regional officer of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, will become the first cyclist to cross the bridge. A cycling enthusiast, he frequently does the two bridges run between the Forth Road Bridge and the Kincardine Bridge.

He said, “Cycling is great exercise, is challenging and obviously has no negative effects for the environment.

“The new bridge, as well as serving its function of reducing traffic through the village of Kincardine, has resulted in a great improvement to cycle tracks around the area.

“Transport Scotland and the contractors have done a fantastic job in developing the approach roads and cycleways, not only to relieve what was a serious bottleneck in the road system, but in opening up the options for cyclists.”