Beattock Bridge

There are three bridges in close company crossing the Evan Water, a tributary of the River Annan, at Beattock village. The oldest was built to the design of Thomas Telford in 1819, whilst the other two date from the last half century or so.

Telfords Bridge

Thomas Telford was responsible for a number of improvements to what became the A74 as part of his commission on Highland Roads and Bridges. Whilst this may seem a little strange, the A74 passing through the Southern Uplands, the reasoning is that the route originated as a military road, the only one south of Glasgow, and Telfords Commission included repairs and improvements to the older network.

The bridge is a single span stone arch across the river, built of the local red sandstone with minor decorations. It was subsequently widened on the east side in 1955 with a matching concrete arch faced in the same stone. This means that it now carries a full S2 carriageway across the river, despite being just the local unclassified village road since the bypass was built in the 1960s.

Beattock Bypass

Constructed in the mid 1960s, the bypass around Beattock was built to relieve traffic in the village and provide a continuous dual carriageway from Carlisle to Glasgow. The bridge constructed therefore carried two carriageways - the northbound one is now the cycle track - across the river on a new single span, shallow concrete arch structure.

Motorway Bridge

Consisting of 3 spans, with piers on either side of the canalised river, the newest bridge across the Evan Water at Beattock is also the biggest. It carries a full D3M Motorway over the river on a concrete deck. Each of the two side spans cross the banks, the northern one carries a footpath and the southern one crosses a farm access track.