[article] New bridge to link Ringsend and south quays

Navan Junction

Tim O'Brien, Irish Times, 20th Nov 2006

Dublin City Council is seeking consultants to design a "public transport only" bridge between Ringsend and the south quays of the river Liffey.

The bridge, to run between Seán Moore Road in Ringsend and the corner of Sir John Rogerson's Quay and Britain Quay, will remove a maritime barrier formed by the confluence of the Dodder and the Grand Canal.

It will also provide a link with Ringsend Park for residents of the large number of new apartments around Grand Canal Dock.

The bridge was included in the Dublin City Council Development Plan and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority Master Plan. A spokesman for Dublin City Council said he was unable to put a cost on the project.

Advertising on the Government's e-tendering website for consultants to assist in the project, the council said the bridge would be approximately 100m (330ft) in length.

The advertisement said the structure must have "an arrangement for opening" to provide for aquatic traffic to and from the Liffey to the Dodder and/or Grand Canal Dock. This condition would be particularly important to Waterways Ireland which has an information centre on Ireland's inland waterways in the inner Grand Canal dock.

It would also be important to boaters as the dock is the start of the Grand Canal navigation which eventually links to the Shannon in Co Offaly.

The contract for the bridge work also includes an eastern approach of about 1,200m to tie in to Seán Moore Road. A short approach is required on the western side to tie in to Sir John Rogerson's Quay/Britain Quay.

A spokesman for Dublin City Council told The Irish Timesthe bridge would be restricted to public transport and would cater for two bus lanes, two cycle lanes and two footpaths.

Provision is also to be made for a possible Luas extension.

According to the council spokesman, the current requirements of the project are to examine a number of options, to recommend one of these options and to bring the preferred option to the preliminary design stage.

Chris_533976

I like the idea of a public transport only bridge, but as long as buses dont come to a grinding halt at either end of it.

strassenwolf

Today's Independent wrote:

Row over plan to build public transport bridge

A ROW has broken out over plans to build a new bridge across the River Dodder at Dublin's Ringsend.

The Green Party said yesterday the bridge should only be built as part of a scheme to extend the Luas to Ringsend and Poolbeg.

Dublin City Council yesterday advertised for consultants to design a road bridge which would be restricted to public transport. John Gormley, Green Party spokesman, said restricting traffic across this new bridge to public transport, cyclists and pedestrians was a positive step.

But Mr Gormley, who is also a local TD, claimed more should be done.

"The only long-term public transport solution for this area is to link with the light rail network, and this bridge should only be put in place as part of such an extension," he said.

The Green Party has made proposals to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) which would allow for the Luas extension to the Point Depot to be extended to the southside of the Liffey.

Mr Gormley said that providing extra road capacity, even in the form of bus lanes, would only lead to traffic problems.

"Unless there is a massive additional commitment from Dublin Bus to providing services on the proposed route, this bridge will only carry a small number of buses each hour."

He added: "This will inevitably lead to calls from motorists to allow them to use the bridge.

"In these circumstances, it would require enormous political will to persist with a bus-only policy, and previous experience shows us that this is unlikely to happen."

Treacy Hogan

This is going to be an interesting one. With the redevelopment of the Irish Glass Bottle site, as well as other potential development in that area, there is likely to be a lot more traffic going through Ringsend in the future.

spacetweek

strassenwolf wrote:

This is going to be an interesting one. With the redevelopment of the Irish Glass Bottle site, as well as other potential development in that area, there is likely to be a lot more traffic going through Ringsend in the future.

Interesting idea. I had done a thought experiment before about this and originally reckoned it might be good to have it go down Irishtown Road, then Landsdowne road to hook up with the DART. On second thoughts this might be needless as you can get DART->Red Luas by getting off at Connolly anyway, plus it would cause even more pedestrian conflict on match days.

Instead it might be easier to use vacant land along the margins, as in the attached map. I've marked stations with blobs: Pembroke Cottages, Irishtown, Church Avenue, and Bath Road. Any longer and it might get unmanageably long. I don't know where the Irish Glass Bottle plant is, anyone got any comments on the alignment?

strassenwolf

spacetweek wrote:

I don't know where the Irish Glass Bottle plant is, anyone got any comments on the alignment?

You have drawn your line to terminate almost at the strand. To the east/right of that alignment, nearing the strand, are some playing pitches, which you may be able to pick out. To the east/right of these playing pitches is the squarish grey area which is shown on your map. That's the ex-bottle plant. Beyond that again, approx in the same direction, are other areas which may be developed.