Inverness west link

[Rambo]

The swing bridges look too close together for VMS panels to be of any use. As surely if one bridge is off then the other will be too? nice pics btw.

[Glen]

Only one bridge will be in operation at a time, they will be operated from the new control building situated between them.
Boats will have to wait after passing through one for the bridge to return to the normal position before the next bridge can be swung for them to proceed.

[Rambo]

Only one bridge will be in operation at a time, they will be operated from the new control building situated between them.
Boats will have to wait after passing through one for the bridge to return to the normal position before the next bridge can be swung for them to proceed.

ah i can see the pontoons. I suppose it is usually small craft that use the canal these days so it shouldn't be a problem. I recall a 1000 ton ish cargo ship using it a few years ago which would obviously have difficulty stopping at a short distance..

[SteelCamel]

ah i can see the pontoons. I suppose it is usually small craft that use the canal these days so it shouldn't be a problem. I recall a 1000 ton ish cargo ship using it a few years ago which would obviously have difficulty stopping at a short distance..

The Lord of the Glens cruise ship operates on the canal (barring the Covid situation), and is the biggest ship that will fit.
In terms of length and width, anyway - it's nowhere near the 115ft height limit. Perhaps surprisingly, the maximum clearance under the Kessock Bridge (90ft) is lower than the height limit of the canal, which has no fixed bridges over it (the height limit is due to electricity cables crossing the canal). This is why the upgrade consists of a second swing bridge, rather than a fixed bridge, and is also one of the challenges with replacing the Corran Ferry with a bridge - if it doesn't have at least 90ft clearance under it, it will prevent taller yachts from completing the trip from coast to coast.

[Glen]

The size of the lock chambers are the main constraint on the size of vessels that can use the canal, the location of the two bridges is no issue compared to that.

Here's a 360 view of the whole site (taken in November) that better shows the layout and the position of the bridges.

https://roundme.com/tour/650079/view/2057950

[The Deuce]

The opening is delayed until end of may 2021 now

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/new ... er-232393/

[Glen]

Some more recent photos

[SteelCamel]

Thanks for posting those.
Just out of interest, did you have to do anything special to get the pictures of VMS signs? When I tried to photograph them, they were flickering like mad on screen and the photo only captured about half the text - thought that was just with a basic phone camera.

Interesting to note that the signs appear to have a "road open" signal built in, but not used - they show either "road closed" or blank.

[Glen]

Sometimes it's a bit of luck if LED displays show up in photos, especially when using a phone camera which has fewer adjustable settings. Often taking several shots and picking the best one works.
Yesterday I was trying to got a photo of the sign showing both the text and the orange lights and that's the best I could get with the orange lights after a bunch of shots.

From what I can gather the default state of the direction signs will be both LED panels to be blank and when one bridge is in operation they will display road open and road closed as appropriate.

[haggishunter]

Something I thought when seeing the new bridge's southern roundabout after it first opened seems to be confirmed by these photos, isn't the distance from the round about exit to what you might term the 'splash point' very short?

[OLD GIT]

Further south the Caol Link Road

Riley -any more news on this? I've been trying to contact my old mate Neil Clark (ex BT and later Councillor)to find out he was a customer of Manson & Macbeth earlier this year ?

[Glen]

Some photos today following the new bridge opening to traffic on Monday.

[rileyrob]

Something very unusual has happened to the A8082. Something that almost never happens these days. The section over the new Ness Bridge was a 30 limit when it was opened, but it has had the speed limit increased to 40 fairly recently. The 40 now starts just after the Queens Park Roundabout at Bught Park, rather than at the Mill Lade Roundabout on the south side of the Ness. Very little traffic used to adhere to this 30 limit anyway, so it is perhaps just reflecting the speed that most traffic actually travels at.

[swissferry]

North Lanarkshire Council changed a number of speeds limits with this [url=chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://mars.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/eg ... t91459.pdf]order[/url]. Although the order mostly reduced speed limits the limit on Mollins Road increased from 30 to 40. There was wide spread non-compliance when it was a 30. I feel that the increased limit has reduced the average speed!

40 feels more appropriate to me:
https://goo.gl/maps/YmyVJn55DHh9hcNt8
https://goo.gl/maps/ToZjNaJmUzWoDW1C7

[Bryn666]

Something very unusual has happened to the A8082. Something that almost never happens these days. The section over the new Ness Bridge was a 30 limit when it was opened, but it has had the speed limit increased to 40 fairly recently. The 40 now starts just after the Queens Park Roundabout at Bught Park, rather than at the Mill Lade Roundabout on the south side of the Ness. Very little traffic used to adhere to this 30 limit anyway, so it is perhaps just reflecting the speed that most traffic actually travels at.

It does happen if there's a sound justification for it to happen. I've raised two speed limits in my time.

[Owain]

Something very unusual has happened to the A8082. Something that almost never happens these days. The section over the new Ness Bridge was a 30 limit when it was opened, but it has had the speed limit increased to 40 fairly recently. The 40 now starts just after the Queens Park Roundabout at Bught Park, rather than at the Mill Lade Roundabout on the south side of the Ness. Very little traffic used to adhere to this 30 limit anyway, so it is perhaps just reflecting the speed that most traffic actually travels at.

It does happen if there's a sound justification for it to happen. I've raised two speed limits in my time.

When I first moved to Somerset in 2007, the A36 between Monkton Combe and Limpley Stoke was a 30. During rush hour this didn't really matter because it was gridlocked anyway, but at any other time of day or night it was truly painful. A year or so later it was raised to 40.