Scottish Bridges: 34. Island Bank Road Footbridges, Inverness

Heading further south along the east bank of the River Ness, we found two tiny little footbridges which span a drainage channel onto part of the Ness Islands. They weren't among the bridges we were looking for, but the parapets are so cute that I had to include them here anyway. Both bridges were installed in 2007.

There's very little I can say about these - I found almost no information online other than the date of construction, and structurally they are extremely simple single span beam bridges.

It's always a pleasure to see a designer and their client who don't feel the need to kow-tow to the idiotic monotony of codes and standards. The bridge parapets don't comply with normal design requirements (specifically, BS 7818, Specification for pedestrian restraint systems in metal), insofar as they are climbable and the openings considerably exceed the standard 100mm maximum. But if they did comply, what would be the point? There's an unprotected river bank a few metres away which is a far greater hazard.

If only all clients were as sensible.

Further information:

• Google maps / Bing maps