Wills Bros Civil Engineering has secured a contract to build a £2.7 million bridge at Inverness Campus.

Leader of the development, HIE, is providing the majority of the funding with an additional £856,000 provided from the Scottish Government through Sustrans Scotland's Community Links programme. 

When complete it will become the second bridge linking Inverness Campus with the retail park. It will cross the main Inverness-Perth railway line and enable access for pedestrians, cyclists and buses to and from the east of the city, avoiding the Raigmore interchange.

Ruaraidh MacNeil, HIE's project director for Inverness Campus, said: "This is about improving access to and from Inverness Campus by extending the low-carbon travel options that have formed part of the development from the outset.

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"It will provide better links between the retail and business park, the campus and other parts of the city, providing alternatives to car use by creating new public transport routes and encouraging active travel. The bridge will also provide the 'missing link' in east/west walking and cycle routes across the city.

"Thanks to the additional funding provided by the Scottish Government through Sustrans Scotland's Community Links scheme, we are now able to award this contract and look forward to having the bridge in place within the next year."

Dave Keane, community links manager for Sustrans Scotland, added: "We are very excited to see the new campus bridge take its next step towards opening. The South Campus Bridge has had a really positive effect for people travelling to and from the campus, with more than 1,400 people using it every week. The new bridge will make it even easier for people to travel on foot or by bike."

Contractors are expected on site by the end of the year, with the bridge completed in summer 2019.

(CM)