Civic reception marks opening of Inverness' Kessock Bridge as it celebrates 40 years
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A CIVIC reception brought together many of those involved in the creation and official opening of the iconic Kessock Bridge, which has now been in operation for 40 years.
Hosted by Highland Council at Inverness Town House last Friday evening it is one of a series of events to mark the anniversary, the bridge being widely hailed as an engineering of the highest order which transformed the lives of many on both sides of the Beauly Firth when it was opened by the late Queen Mother in 1982.
As the Courier reported last week one of those with fondest memories of the opening ceremony, in atrocious weather conditions, was Julia Sproul, now living in Blaerno but who was at the time a pupil at Inverness’s Crown Primary and was picked to present a bouquet to Her Majesty.
A guest at last week’s civic reception her father Ken Wilson was deputy resident engineer during the bridge’s construction.
She called the bridge “wonderful” and said the whole family was proud of the part her father had played in its construction.
“I feel very privileged to have played a small part in the bridge opening,” she said.”
Mr Wilson and Don Fraser, former assistant resident engineer on the project, have helped organise a number of events to mark the anniversary including a reunion of key personnel and an exhibition at the Highland Archive Centre and North Kessock.
Opening just thee years after the Cromarty Bridge on the other side of the Black Isle the Kessock Bridge greatly reduced commuting times to and from that part of the Highlands including opening up the then burgeoning powerhouse of the Easter Ross area as oil and gas, and aluminium smelting industries, boomed at the time.
Around 28,000 vehicles are said to now use the iconic crossing every day.
n Bridge vital to Highland fortunes – page 20.
