New Docklands bridge

murphaph

Hi all,
Noticed a concrete pier has been built out i the river, about 1/3 the way across, just beyond the custom house at Spencer Dock. Is this the foundation (a boss I suppose it's called) for the new Calatrava bridge? It is designed to swing open.

Traffic

Looks like it does swing open, for thoes who dont have access to the irish times on line:

http://www.ireland.com/images/2002/...6708373526.html

New bridge to swing open for ships
By Frank McDonald, Environment Editor



Dublin is to get another pedestrian bridge over the Liffey, linking City Quay with Custom House Quay. However, unlike the Millennium footbridge, the latest one will swing open for maritime traffic.

The Dublin Docklands Development Authority announced yesterday that architects Brian O'Halloran and Associates and structural engineers O'Connor Sutton Cronin had been chosen to build it following an international competition.

The DDDA said it would now engage the winning team to design the bridge fully with a view to construction and completion in early 2004, subject to planning permission from Dublin City Council. The estimated cost is €3.5 million.

The bridge, to be located some 300 metres downriver of the Matt Talbot Bridge, is designed to link the Government and cultural area around Merrion Square with the International Financial Services Centre in the Custom House Docks.

It will span the Liffey from the Mariners' memorial at City Quay to Stack A, an early 19th-century warehouse on the Custom House Docks site. This building, once targeted for a science museum, is being developed as a retail and trade exhibition centre.

Selected from more than 80 entries from around the world, the winning design was chosen by the jury for its "understated elegance". The runners-up were architects Ahrends Burton and Koralek and structural engineers Kellogg Brown Root.

Mr Cyril O'Neill, of Brian O'Halloran and Associates, who worked on the chosen bridge design with Mr Paul Healy, of O'Connor Sutton Cronin, said they were "over the moon" about winning the competition.

He described their scheme as "a symmetrical bridge of twinned cantilevered cradles suggesting a formal maritime gateway to the city". The tapering steel cradles would swing through 90 degrees to open the central span of 44 metres for ships.

A minimum clear opening of 33 metres was required by the competition brief.

"The structural form of our bridge is based on a simple balanced cantilever, so it would require very little power to move the two central opening sections," Mr O'Neill said.

The winning designers believe their bridge will have a "permeable and dramatic silhouette". Its deck is suspended from the twin cradles of the bridge. Only the material to be used for its surface has yet to be decided.

The DDDA's chief executive, Mr Peter Coyne, said he was confident that the bridge would be an excellent addition to Dublin's series of river crossings. "It would further animate the quays by providing greater and easier pedestrian access," he said. The bridge would also link residential areas on both sides of the river.

At present there is no bridge between the Matt Talbot and East Link bridges, although a dramatic suspension bridge is planned on the axis of Guild Street.

An exhibition of all 80-plus entries for the bridge competition is being held in the National College of Ireland, Mayor Square, off Sheriff Street, starting today and running until December 19th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Andrew Duffy

Where is it? The road bridge will connect Macken Street (actually cardiff Lane) to Guild Street. I'm guessing that the pier is for a new pedestrian bridge:

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2003/0826/2781084584HM4FOOTBRIDGE.html

New Liffey footbridge will be river's 16th pedestrian crossing in Dublin
Liam Reid

Dublin City Council has granted planning permission for a third pedestrian bridge over the river Liffey.

The bridge, located close to the International Financial Services Centre in the city's docklands area, will also be able to swing open to allow water traffic through.

Costing €3.5 million, the bridge is part of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority's (DDDA) regeneration plans, and is designed to link the Government and cultural area around Merrion Square with the International Financial Services Centre in the Custom House Docks.

While the DDDA is the planning authority in relation to much of the docklands area, it has no jurisdiction on the quays on the south side. As a result, planning permission, which was granted yesterday,was required from Dublin City Council.

Last Christmas, Irish architecture firm Brian O'Halloran and Associates, along with engineers O'Connor Sutton Cronin, won an international competition to design and build the bridge. The design was chosen from more than 80 entries.

The bridge, which will be located some 300 metres downriver from the Matt Talbot Bridge, will be suspension in design and capable of swivelling around two "cradles" to create a 46-metre opening for ships travelling upriver. It will span the Liffey from the Mariners' memorial at City Quay to Stack A, a 19th-century warehouse on the Custom House Docks site, which is to be developed as a retail and trade exhibition centre.

The new pedestrian bridge will be the third new bridge over the river Liffey in the last five years, bringing to 16 the number spanning the Liffey in Dublin city. In 2000, the Millennium Bridge, the first pedestrian bridge since the Ha'penny Bridge opened in 1817, was unveiled.

In June of this year, the James Joyce Bridge opened, linking Blackhall Place with Ushers Island, the setting for Joyce's short story, The Dead.

Safety fears were raised when children began climbing its dramatic arch soon after it opened. A spokesman for Dublin City Council said that bridge was now under 24-hour surveillance from a fixed camera.

Traffic

There are to be two new bridges between the matt talbot and the east link, possibly a third will be added later between the macken st bridge and the east link when the south docklands are developed further

Yes the pier is for the new pedestrian bridge

the Macken st bridge as it is being called is still in the planning stages.

weehamster

Wasnt the Macken St Brg designed for the Docklands to Lucan LUAS line?

Traffic

The Macken st bridge is being designed in order to be able to carry a future LUAS line, this would be a spur from the line to the point depot from Connolly