A BRIDGE in the Highlands is to get a £1.5 million paint job which is set to take five months.
The project to paint the Kessock Bridge – which carries the A9 trunk road over the Kessock Channel between Inverness and the Black Isle – is due to start on February 17.
About 30,000 vehicles travel over the 43-year-old bridge every day, according to Transport Scotland.
Bear Scotland said the painting of steelwork would be done between 7am and 5pm, Monday to Sunday, and it is not expected to cause any delays or disruption to traffic.
It added some work to clean up coatings of old paint would be done at times overnight from late March into April.
Ian Stewart, of Bear Scotland, said: "This painting work on Kessock Bridge will provide a protective coating over the structural steel, ensuring that the bridge continues to operate safely into the future.
"Our teams will carry out these works quickly, with safety as our top priority.
"We thank the local community and road users for their patience while we complete the improvements."
It took four years to build the build the bridge which cost £25m - the equivalent of more than £100m at current prices with inflation factored in.
Before the bridge, a ferry had operated across the Beauly Firth between Inverness and South Kessock from the 15th Century.
The last Kessock ferry sailed in July 1982 when the bridge was opened to traffic, and just weeks before the Queen Mother officially opened the crossing on August 6.
At the time of its completion, the Kessock Bridge – designed by German bridge engineer Hellmut Homberg – was the largest of its kind in Europe.
