Construction of the M74 missing link’s only bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow is under way today … after it took a week to build a crane on site.

The bridge, at Auchenshuggle near the start of the motorway extension project at Fullarton Road, Cambuslang, is being built using the largest mobile crane in Europe.

Stewart Stevenson, Scottish transport minister, watched as the mammoth operation to lift the bridge’s central structure into place, began.

Work is ongoing along the route, between Cambuslang and Tradeston in Glasgow’s South Side, on the road which is expected to open on time next year.

The massive crane will manoeuvre the bridge span, made up of five box girders assembled into one on site, into place across the river.

Mr Stevenson said: “This is another significant milestone in the construction of the M74 completion project. The fact that Europe’s largest mobile crane is needed to carry out the work shows what a complex civil engineering operation it is.

“Together with the recent erection of steelwork for the Rutherglen Station bridge and the ongoing second launch of the Port Eglinton Viaduct, the work on this bridge is another major step towards completion of the project.

“This project to complete the missing link between the existing M74 and the M8 in Glasgow is on schedule to open next year.”

After the girders are in place, work will start to lay the concrete on which the road surface will be built.

The 1600-tonne crane, previously used to help build an oil refinery in Kazakhstan, and most recently in a port in Rotterdam, is prominent in the skyline and 100 lorries were used to to bring in the crane in sections.

Mr Stevenson today also met pupils of Cairns Primary, Cambuslang, who are learning about the new road’s construction, transport and the environment.