Work restarts to install new £2.7 million bridge in Inverness linking Inverness Campus and Inverness Business and Retail Park
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The North Bridge, which will provide a new link for buses, cyclists and pedestrians between the Inverness Campus and the business and retail park, is now being installed.
It had been due to be completed this summer but work halted earlier this year as it emerged a legal agreement between Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Network Rail and Highland Council had not been finalised.
A spokesman for HIE, which is leading the development of the campus, said contractors had now returned to the site and installed the structural beams.
“Completion works will be carried out over the next few months with the bridge due to open in spring 2020,” he said.
“The structure crosses the main Inverness-Perth railway line and will provide access for pedestrians, cyclists and buses to and from the east of the city, avoiding the Raigmore interchange.”
The installation of the bridge was a key condition set down by the council when it granted planning permission for the development in 2011.
It must be completed before the council allows more than 50,000sqm of development on the site.
With projects in the pipeline expected to take development beyond this point, HIE commissioned construction work on the new bridge in October 2018.
“This will be the second bridge linking Inverness Campus with the business and retail park,” the HIE spokesman continued.
“The existing Drumrosach bridge at the south end of the site is a popular route used around 2500 times a week by pedestrians and cyclists.”
While most funding is from HIE, the Scottish Government is also providing £856,000 for construction through sustainable transport group Sustrans Scotland’s Community Links programme.
