Monday 18 May 2015

Inverness Campus is Now Open



This weekend saw the official opening of the Inverness Campus by John Swinney MSP.

[Any of the images can be clicked to enlarge.]








All the signs are in Gaelic and English. If you say 'Inner Neesh' you'll be more fluent than most of the people in Inbhir Nis (Inverness).





The dominant building on the campus currently is Inverness College UHI.
Behind it can be seen the Kessock Bridge.
And about 26 miles away Ben Wyvis.








The whole campus has a 20 mph speed limit.
The sign here is also qualified with PEDESTRIAN PRIORITY.
It does seem a bit odd that the crossing point is just outside the pedestrian priority zone.




















Many natural land features have been created.
The most obvious is a loch with viewing points at several easy-access positions around its edge.
Already, the loch is hosting a variety of wild life.



There were many visitors this weekend: walkers, cyclists and some just driving around slowly. All were impressed with this new amenity. A group of young cyclists were enjoying tackling various wood and stone obstacles.










At a far corner of the campus, the Golden Bridge provides a crossing over the A9 to Raigmore Estate for pedestrians and cyclists.







The path to the bridge follows a moderate slope for cyclists.
There is an alternative set of steps for those that prefer it.
It seems to attract Danny MacAskill fans.









The Golden Bridge spans the dual carriageway as well as the on and off ramps, a total of eight lanes.

The side barriers are angled (presumably to discourage people dropping things onto passing vehicles). This makes it quite awkward to look over the edge from the bridge.

Preventive measures can offer unintended opportunities.
At several places, I noticed circular arcs on the stainless steel.
These seemed to be consistent with 'Wall of Death' cycling














The ramp at the far end of the bridge has right angled corners including one 180 degree turn.
The signage from the end of the bridge into Raigmore Estate has been in position for over a year.
A focus of comment from the start was an unwanted CYCLIST DISMOUNT sign.
This has now been removed at last. Obviously this does nothing to improve the design.




Your comments are welcome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It was stated that the Golden Bridge would be self cleaning, but I noticed stains building up on the panels. It seems worse on the north facing side as,presumably, the south side gets the most rain.I almost feel like taking a tin of Brasso to it!