DREW HENDRY: Just as our iconic Kessock Bridge transformed the Highlands for ever, so must dualling of the A9 be the next step to strengthen our transport infrastructure
ONE of my favourite feelings is when the door of the plane opens on the tarmac of Inverness Airport and I take that first breath of air. It’s that feeling of – I’m home. A similar sentiment is evoked by the sight of the Kessock Bridge and Ben Wyvis coming into sight as I travel back to Inverness.
That iconic view and the feelings it invokes is an experience I know others share when travelling back to the Highlands.
Whether we are born here or are first-generation Highlanders, to most of us the view of our Bridge and our Ben represent home.
As readers will know, that bridge turned 40 at the weekend. As part of the celebrations of this milestone, folk have fondly shared their memories of watching the bridge being built. Others have shared their not-so-fond memories of treacherous conditions encountered in many a ferry across the firth.
Whatever the recollections, it is universally agreed the Kessock Bridge transformed the Highlands forever.
It’s easy to overuse the word transformational – I stand guilty as charged – but that is what happened in this case.
The building of the 1056m Kessock Bridge represented connection and created transformational economic and social opportunities for people living in the northern Highlands.
The Kessock Bridge also has its place in the record books.
When works started on the bridge in the late 1970s, then opened in 1982, it was the largest cable-stayed bridge in Europe and, to this day, it remains considered an engineering feat.
Transport Scotland estimates that over the last 40 years, around 335 million vehicles have travelled over the bridge.
Those journeys all represent economic and social prosperity for our region. It’s the person living in the Black Isle able to do the daily commute to Inverness to work or the mother able to have her baby safely delivered in Raigmore Hospital. It’s the visitors able to easily travel the North Coast 500, and the economic activity in the northern Highlands made possible only because of this transport link.
The transformation afforded by the bridge offers an insight into the power of improving transport connections.
Without a doubt, the dualling of the A9 is the next step in that journey to strengthen our transport infrastructure.
No ifs, no buts, it’s a must to make the Highlands as accessible and safe as it can be to residents and visitors alike.
