Halladale Bridge

Halladale Bridge is the site of a crossing of the Halladale River and a junction at Melvich, roughly 15 miles west of Thurso.

New Bridge

Halladale Bridge

The modern bridge across the Halladale River at Melvich is a fairly ordinary modern concrete structure, carrying the two-way A836. It sits on a wide sweeping bend, with views north to the coast and Melvich Bay. The bridge consists of two wide spans with a narrow central pier set in the middle of the river channel. The deck carries a wide S2 carriageway between pavements, with metal barriers as parapets.

Old Bridge

The old bridge, which is now sadly gone, was a much more interesting structure. Sited a little way upstream, it was a single span bridge set between solid, square stone abutments. The span itself was a Truss bridge, with deep lattice-work trusses on either side of the single-track carriageway. Dated to the early 20th century, it was one of a number of bridges built around the same time in the far north. While the bridge is gone, the embanked approaches, particularly on the west side, survive, with the line of the old road then easy to trace as it curves past the farm.

Junction

A short distance to the east of the bridge is the junction between the A836 and A897 to Helmsdale on the A9. The junction is a simple give-way T Junction, set between high banks of Gorse which is sited only slightly north of the original junction before the road was re-aligned for the new bridge. Originally, in 1922, this was the junction of the B870 and B872.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A836	Tongue
A836	Thurso
A897	Helmsdale