Kessock Bridge

Kessock Bridge
Carries	A9 road
Crosses	Beauly Firth
Locale	Inverness
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	1,056 metres (3,465 feet)
Longest span	240 metres (787 feet)
History
Opened	1982

The Kessock Bridge (Gaelic: Drochaid Cheasaig) carries the A9 trunk road across the Beauly Firth at Inverness.

The Kessock Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Beauly Firth, an inlet of the Moray Firth, between the village of North Kessock and the city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

The bridge has a total length of 1,056 metres (3,465 feet) with a main span of 240 metres (787 feet). Designed by German engineer Hellmut Homberg and built by Cleveland Bridge, it is similar to a bridge across the Rhine in Düsseldorf. The Beauly Firth is a navigable waterway and hence the bridge is raised high over sea level. The four bridge towers dominate the Inverness skyline, especially at night when they are lit.

The bridge carries the A9 trunk road north from Inverness to the Black Isle. It is the southernmost of the "Three Firths" crossings (Beauly, Cromarty and Dornoch) which has transformed road transport in the Highlands. It has proved a key factor in the growth of the city of Inverness.

To protect against any potential seismic activity of the Great Glen Fault, the bridge includes seismic buffers in its construction. These buffers are at the north abutment, nearly over the line of the fault, and they supplement longitudinal restraint at Pier 7, the south main pier. Each buffer is just over 3 metres long and weighs about 2.5 tonnes.

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