An army of 100 specialist painters are to spend up to 15 years giving the Forth Road Bridge a fresh lick of fresh paint.

The entire length of the 202,000 square metre structure was last painted between 1980 and 1993 and the two main towers were repainted between 2006 and 2012. A new job on the suspended span truss is scheduled to get under way in 2017-18 and estimated to take between 12 and 15 years to complete.

But there will be no change in colour scheme -the category A-listed building will still be grey.

Bridge master and chief engineer Barry Colford said: "Transport Scotland requested a schedule of capital works considered essential to ensure the future structural integrity of the Forth Road Bridge be forwarded to them.

"The total sum is £80m over 10 years and a large part of that cost is in the work to strengthen and paint the suspended span truss."