Pennygown Bridge

Pennygown Bridge is in fact two paralllel bridges, which form the (in)famous D1 dual carriageway on Mull. Whilst many bridges have been widened succesfully over the years, here the engineers decided to build a new parallel crossing to provide a modern two-way road.

The Old Bridge

Carrying the westbound carriageway of the A849 across the River Forsa The old bridge was originally an elegant two arch structure, with a smaller arch to the east than the west. However, when the new bridge was added, the old bridge was somewhat butchered with the parapets stripped off and capped with concrete with metal railings added in place of the old parapets. The underside of the arch also seems to have been lined with concrete, presumably to help increase the load capacity of the bridge.

The New Bridge

The new bridge

The bridge now carrying eastbound traffic is a rather boring twin span concrete deck structure, with parapet railing matching those of the old bridge. The only slightly interesting thing about it is that the western span of the two uses metal girders to support the deck, whilst the narrower eastern span is just a plain concrete slab. It was presumably built in the 1970s when the road was widened.