DROCHAID AN EILEIN SGITHEANAICH IS OPENED IN 1995

Today, The Grandma has been reading about Drochaid an Eilein Sgitheanaich, the road bridge over Loch Alsh in Scotland, that was opened on a day like today in 1995.

The Skye Bridge, in Scottish Gaelic Drochaid an Eilein Sgitheanaich, is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, Scotland, connecting the Isle of Skye to the island of Eilean Bàn. The name is also used for the whole Skye Crossing, which further connects Eilean Bàn to the mainland across the Carrich Viaduct. The crossing forms part of the A87.

Traditionally, the usual route from the mainland to Skye was the shortest crossing, with a length of around 500 metres, across the sound between the villages of Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland and Kyleakin on the island's east coast. A ferry service operated from around 1600, run by private operators and latterly by Caledonian MacBrayne.

Road and rail connections to Kyle of Lochalsh were constructed towards the end of the 19th century and various parties proposed building a bridge to the island. Although the engineering task was well within the capability of the age, the crossing is shorter and shallower than that bridged by the Forth Bridge, the island's remoteness and small population meant that the cost could not be justified.

By 1971 the two 28-car ferries carried more than 300,000 vehicles. Increased prosperity in the islands and a healthy summertime tourist traffic led to traffic queuing for the ferries. This brought renewed calls for the construction of a road bridge.

In 1989 Conservative junior minister Lord James Douglas-Hamilton announced a bidding round, requested tenders to construct a toll bridge. A variety of locations and designs were proposed, and the contract was awarded to Miller-Dywidag, a consortium composed of Scottish construction company Miller Construction, German engineering company DYWIDAG-Systems International, and financial partner the Bank of America.

The Miller-Dywidag proposal, designed in collaboration with civil engineering firm Arup, was for a single-span concrete arch, supported by two piers resting on caissons in the loch and using Eilean Bàn as a stepping-stone. The PFI plan was accepted, and received support from local MP Charles Kennedy and the local council in the full knowledge that it would be on a high-toll basis for a limited period.

Although the bridge itself was built with PFI, the approach roads were the responsibility of the Scottish Office, which paid £15 million for the roads and associated improvements, and to cover the costs associated with decommissioning the ferry. Construction began in 1992 led by Project Director John Henderson and the bridge was opened by Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Forsyth on 16 October 1995. Then the ferry service ceased, and the bridge and the Mallaig-Armadale ferry were the only year-round connections to the mainland.

The two caissons that the main span stands on were cast as hollow cylinders in the old Kishorn Dry Dock and floated to site where they were sunk onto the prepared loch bed. Kishorn Dock had been built for the oil industry, but only built the one rig -Ninian Central.

More information: Undiscovered Scotland

It so happens that the work which is likely
to be our most durable monument,
and to convey some knowledge of us
to the most remote posterity,
is a work of bare utility; not a shrine,
not a fortress, not a palace, but a bridge.

Montgomery Schuyler