Samuel Beckett Bridge Dublin

I was in town there a while back down by Macken Street and I must say the new Samuel Beckett Bridge is pretty awesome looking! just check out the picture below and decide for yourself.

Samuel Beckett Bridge Dublin

The first thing to strike me about the bridge is its size. Interestingly its not that visible from O’Connell Bridge but when you round the corner down to Butt Bridge and the other one that crosses to the CHQ Building, it is immense!

The bridge will have four traffic lanes, with cycle tracks and footpaths on either side. It will also be capable of opening through an angle of 90 degrees allowing ships to pass through. This will be achieved through a rotational mechanism housed in the base of the pylon.

From www.dublincity.ie

Now i have one issue with the bridge, it is called the Macken Street bridge but yet the road deck crosses the river in between macken street and the next street up from it, Guild Street I think it is.

This bridge will finally  re-create a link across to the south side of the city from the north side without having to travel all the way down past Capel Street to gain access to the college green area, when the bus corridor is in operation. As most of you will know as you drive into town down Dorset Street you cannot turn left once you pass temple street, thanks to the traffic management plan in operation in the city, because of the one way system in operation around the city people driving from the northside have to travel all the way to Church Street to cross the liffy to get to any part of the south bank of the liffey. This bridge although removed from the central part of the city, it will allow people to travel to parts of the city like merrion square and the like with much greater ease and a lesser chance of getting caught in the inner city traffic.

Another feature of note is the capacity of the bridge to carry luas tracks in the future. Finally some proper future planning by the city council in terms of transport! Mind you it could be a planning nightmare to get a luas up and down the keys there or even up macken street/guild street, but sure we shall see whether luas extensions will even continue thanks to the recession and its cuts in funding for infrastructure projects.

Dublin City Council have indicate that the Bridge will be open to city traffic in early 2010.

These could be related:

• New bridge opens to traffic – Beckett Bridge
• A time for building bridges
• Complaints over traffic controls at new bridge
• Shannon rail bridge nears completion
• Dublin Bikes – Over 6000 sign up!
• Luas BXD and Interconnector lodged to the Bord