BAM Nuttall has been awarded a contract of $23.88m (£18.468m) by Glasgow City Council to deliver a pedestrian and cycle bridge over the M8.

The new bridge will connect Sighthill with Glasgow city centre.

The project has been funded by the Glasgow City Region Deal, under which the Scottish and UK Governments will provide £500m each for infrastructure projects in Glasgow.

This new project will link Sighthill and North Glasgow communities to the city centre. Sighthill will be a walk of 15 minutes or less from George Square.

The project is considered to be important as it is expected to provide easy access to the city centre, making travel feasible for the 1,000 new homes in Sighthill once the regeneration scheme is complete.

First considered in 2018, this bridge is a key stage of the $324m (£250m) Sighthill Transformational Regeneration Area (TRA) programme.

Scottish Government Secretary Alister Jack said: “The Glasgow City Region Deal is essential to ensuring the future prosperity of residents and local businesses.

“The UK Government is investing more than $1.8bn (£1.4bn) in City Region and Growth Deals across Scotland. This programme is creating thousands of jobs and opportunities and we will continue to work with the Scottish Government to make sure these reach every part of Scotland.”

Construction of the bridge will commence in Feburary and is expected to be completed by 2021.

Spanning over 58m (191ft), the connecting bridge will have a width varying between 7.5m and 20m and will weigh 2,420t.

The bridge’s structure will feature a steel box girder with a reinforced concrete composite desk slab.

The bridge will replace the existing North Wallace Street Footbridge.

BAM will build wing walls and ramps, retaining walls on the south approaches. It will be responsible for landscaping and will hold a five-year maintenance programme. Two new high mast lights will also be constructed.