PROVISION FOR FLOOD WATER IN BRIDGES.
In determining the waterway of his bridges, Mr. Stevenson invariably provided for prospective increase of flooding due to agricultural improvements, as stated in the following extract from a report made in 1811:—
“To preserve an ample waterway the north abutment is placed about twelve feet from the edge of the river, leaving a sufficient passage for the water in floods. A less waterway might perhaps have answered the purpose, but as the valleys through which the North Esk passes may come to be meliorated by drainage, and especially those districts of country on each side of the feeders which join the river, the facility with which the surface water may then escape must greatly increase the floods, and although their duration will be shorter, yet their rise must be proportionally higher.”