Listed building status for Kessock Bridge?

The Highlands' major road bridge could be given listed building status.

The Kessock Bridge carries about 30,000 vehicles a day on the A9 over the Beauly Firth.

When it was completed near Inverness in 1982 it was the first multi-cable-stayed bridge in the UK and largest crossing of its kind in Europe.

It was designed to withstand extreme weather and potential earthquakes caused by geological movement in the Great Glen Geological Fault.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said the Kessock Bridge meets the criteria for listing.

The organisation is consulting publicly on the proposed Category B designation.

Listed buildings "enrich Scotland's landscape" and are representative of different parts of Scottish history.

Many listed structures are of interest architecturally or historically. But to be listed, a building must be of "special' architectural or historic interest", said HES.

The Kessock Bridge was designed by German bridge engineer Hellmut Homberg, who died in 1990.

It was built as a replacement for a ferry that crossed between North Kessock and Inverness.

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