The completion of the new landmark Gem Bridge will be celebrated next week.

To mark the occasion, Devon County Council on Tuesday held a special ceremony at the £2.1-million cycle and pedestrian bridge, which crosses the Walkham Valley.

The event saw the official opening of the picnic area next to the bridge, which has been designed by pupils from Whitchurch Primary School. This area has been made from reclaimed granite blocks from the ruins of Brunel's original viaduct, which was constructed in the valley in 1859 and demolished in the 1960s. School children buried a time capsule in the picnic area, following the ceremony.

The new 200-metre long bridge is 24 metres high, or the equivalent height of five double-decker buses stacked on top of each other.

Work on the bridge started in March last year and has been part-funded with a £600,000 European grant, to establish better cycling tourism links between the south west of England and France.

The structure is on the route of Cycle West's 'Vélodyssée', which is a 265-mile (440km) cross-Channel cycle link that will eventually stretch from Ilfracombe to Redon in Southern Brittany, when the stretch of Drake's Trail from Tavistock to Plymouth is fully open by the autumn.

Cllr Jeremy Yabsley, Devon County Council chairman, said: 'Gem Bridge is certainly a worthy modern successor to the viaduct which once stood in this valley. Although it is lower than the original structure, it still manages to capture the spirit and elegance of Brunel's design.'

Cllr Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: 'The completion of Gem Bridge is the perfect way to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Summer of Cycling. This really is a spectacular structure that I'm sure will become an iconic part of Devon's cycling network and will attract plenty of walkers and cyclists.

'Although the bridge is available for public use, work is still ongoing to complete the final section of Drake's Trail to Tavistock. An interim route will be in place until the trail is fully open in the autumn when the route will link Plymouth and Tavistock.'

Clr Philip Sanders, County Councillor for Yelverton Rural, said: 'A few years ago my sons and I regularly used to ride our mountain bikes down the steep slopes left behind when the original viaduct was removed and although we enjoyed the ride it was sad to see such a monument to Brunel laying in ruins.

'I have watched the new bridge rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and I am really proud of the new structure, which is a tribute to all those who have worked on the design and construction.'

The county council's main contractor on the project, Dawnus, had to install 20 tonnes of scaffolding over an area the size of a tennis court to lift the final steel section of the bridge into place to complete the five spans which make up the structure.

While work is continuing on the final sections of Drake's Trail, a temporary route will be signed until the trail is fully open.