Turf-cutting ceremony for new Bernera Bridge

A significant milestone on a new replacement bridge for Great Bernera was reached this week with a formal turf-cutting ceremony.
By murray macleod
Published 20th Apr 2021, 15:24 BST
Updated 20th Apr 2021, 15:29 BST
A socially-distanced crowd gather for the turf-cutting ceremonyA socially-distanced crowd gather for the turf-cutting ceremony
A socially-distanced crowd gather for the turf-cutting ceremony

A weight restriction of 7.5-tonne has been in place on the existing structure since last December after engineers found series defects during a routine inspection.

The replacement steel-trussed structure is being provided by Mabey Bridge, with civil engineering works being undertaken by Breedon Hebrides. Completion of the crossing is currently scheduled for the end of July 2021, depending on site conditions, with a cost of around £5 million.

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Comhairle nan Eilean Siar expressed their thanks to the community of Great Bernera for the patience shown over the last few months and claimed that they were able to “maintain essential services to the island during this period of restricted access”.

At one stage the comhairle considered hiring a ferry to enable lorries to cross to the island, but were unable to source a suitable vessel that would cope with the conditions.