An Irish Planning Students Blog

Dublin’s €60 million Samuel Beckett Bridge, designed by internationally renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, opened to traffic this morning.

Motorists have been advised there is no right-turn from the bridge on either side of the river and no left-turn from North Wall Quay onto the north side of the bridge.

The 120-metre long, 48-metre high bridge spans the river Liffey from Sir John Rogerson’s Quay near Macken Street on the south side to Guild Street at the site of the new National Convention Centre on the north side.

It was one of two bridges commissioned from Calatrava by Dublin City Council 10 years ago. The other, the James Joyce Bridge, opened at Blackhall Place near Heuston Station on Bloomsday, June 16th, 2003.

The new bridge was projected in 1998 to cost £10 million, but the costs ultimately rose to almost €60 million.
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AN BORD Pleanála has sounded the death knell for a planned major development aimed at revitalising Wicklow Town’s struggling business sector.

Lusra Teoranta had lodged an appeal to the planning board after Wicklow County Council refused permission for the Marlton Quarter development. But An Bord Pleanála agreed with the council and turned down the appeal.

The mixed retail, commercial and residential development was to include a shopping mall, retail units, multiplex cinema, medical centre, leisure facilities, art centre, youth centre, hotel and leisure centre, bowling alley, pubs, cafes and restaurants.
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MINISTER for the Environment John Gormley has pledged to “act decisively” when he receives the corporate governance reports on finance and planning from the chair of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA).

He has ruled out for the moment a Fine Gael call to bring the DDDA within the remit of the Comptroller Auditor General but said he would keep the role of the comptroller auditing the authority “under review”.

The Minister was responding to Fine Gael environment spokesman Phil Hogan’s private member’s Bill to bring the authority within the comptroller’s remit and allow the comptroller to carry out special reports on the authority’s activities.
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