A new bridge is to be installed in Elgin next week as part of the town's £86m flood alleviation scheme.

The bridge will be for pedestrian and cyclists and will be installed over the River Lossie.

The 25-metre single span wooden decked bridge is expected to be secured into place on 11 December and replaced its predecessor at the south end of Bridge Street. It will link the Bishopmill area with Elgin town centre.

The steel structure of the new bridge, which weighs almost 30 tonnes, has been fabricated off-site by Huddersfield-based CTS Bridges and will be lifted into position by crane. When this is completed, 10 sets of utility ducts will be connected. The ducts carry services such as electricity, gas and telecoms.

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Scheduled to open in April 2015, the bridge is slightly arched in its design.

It is understood the parapets will be painted red to match the distinctive colour of the old parapets – which have been dismantled to be relocated nearby along a new cycleway.

Councillor George Alexander, Chair of Moray Council's flood alleviation sub-committee, said: "The end of the project – the biggest flood scheme ever built in Scotland – is now in sight.

"The heavy rain that we had back in August showed that the scheme does what it was intended to do and that is to save families and business owners from the heartache of flooding.

"They have had more than their share of that in the past and they will be both delighted and relieved to see the Elgin scheme coming to a conclusion."

(JP/IT)