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Inverness, Kessock Bridge
Road Bridge (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Inverness, Kessock Bridge
Classification Road Bridge (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Beauly Firth; Longman Point; Craigton Point
Canmore ID 68591
Site Number NH64NE 153
NGR NH 66514 47614
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/68591
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- Council Highland
- Parish Inverness And Bona
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Inverness
- Former County Inverness-shire
NH64NE 153 66514 47614
Kessock Bridge [NAT]
OS 1:10,000 map, 1992.
Location formerly entered as NH 6614 4792 to NH 6688 4729.
Built 1976-82 by the Cleveland RDL Kessock Consortium in association with Helmut Homberg and Trafalgar House Engineering Services Ltd.
J Gifford 1992.
This bridge carries the A9(T) dual-carriageway public road over the Beauly Firth at the Kessock Narrows, between Longman Point, South Kessock (Inverness-shire) and Craigton Point, North Kessock (Ross and Cromarty). It was built in conjunction with the Cromarty Bridge (NH56SE 37) across the Cromarty Firth, and is approached up a rising road on the S side and across the level clifftop on the N.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 22 July 1997.
Bridge - observed.
20th century AD; built 1976-82.
CFA/MORA Coastal Assessment Survey 1998.
The location assigned to this record defines the midpoint of the structure. The available map evidence indicates that it extends from NH c. 66896 47282 to NH c. 66092 47935.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 29 March 2006.
Publication Account (2007)
(Institute Civil Engineers Historic Engineering Works no. HEW 2536)
Kessock Bridge
Kessock Bridge carries the A9 trunk road over the Beauly Firth between Inverness and the Black Isle replacing the former ferry. When built from 1978–82 it was the largest cable-stayed bridge in Europe and the only one of its type in Britain. Its design is said to have been modelled on the Rees Bridge over the Rhine near Dusseldorf.
The navigation span is 787 ft and is supported by groups of eight spiral-strand steel cables up to 3934 in. diameter in a harp arrangement. The steel superstructure is fully continuous over the supports and the open cross-section comprises 1112 ft deep plate girders supporting an orthotropic steel deck. The tender sum was £17.24 million.
An unusual feature of the design is the need to accommodate possible movement on the Great Glen fault at the north abutment. This is achieved by means of two 394 ton hydraulic buffers.
The bridge was designed for the Scottish Development Dept by Dr Helmut Homberg in association with Cleveland Bridge & Engineering who were also the steel contractors. The consulting engineers were Crouch & Hogg and Ove Arup. The foundations and reinforced concrete work were
executed by RDL Contracting Ltd.
R Paxton and J Shipway, 2007.
Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Highlands and Islands' with kind permission from Thomas Telford Publishers.
