Beckett Bridge arrives in Dublin

11th May - 10th Dec 2009

Thurs 10th Dec 6:00pm - Pedestrians are already using as if it was always there...

Thurs 10th Dec 4:00pm - Dublin Port Tugs celebrate the opening to pedestrians...

Above: Paddy swore he wouldn’t have garlic in his sandwiches again...

Thurs 18th May 1:00pm - The new bridge swings shut for the first time...

Wed 20th May 2009 6:00 pm - Those sneaky engineers popped the bridge in place without any fuss. Looks great. It opens in early 2010 for traffic, but could be open sooner for pedestrians...

5.30pm - First they tied her up about 50m down river (as shown in pics below) but then they decided to move her a bit upstream to where you see her above. The security is probably easier up there because the site is closed off to pedestrians.

You can also see part of the concrete base post in the Liffey that the bridge is going to sit on (it’s half hidden by the leftmost white bit of the bridge in the above pic... but you can see it better here). The plan is, in a few weeks time, the bridge will be slipped forward off this single barge so that it becomes supported by two barges, with a water gap in the middle under its pivot point (seen in the pic below). Then, at high tide (and having removed ballast from both barges to get them high in the water) the bridge’s pivot point will be floated over the concrete base post and allowed to settle down to meet it as the tide goes out. Once it’s fixed in place ballast will be taken back on the barges so they sink lower and can be slipped away.

For info, that’s the Spire in the background on the left. And that’s the soon to be made redundant DDDA river taxi in the foreground...

4.05pm: Look at these salty Dutch Sea dogs! They were constantly shouting obscenities at each other (or that was possibly just Dutch). You’ve got to admire their beautiful engineering though...

3:50pm - Dublin port tug pilots. Well done to them.

3.35 pm - They’re just hanging around preparing that jetty. Presumably the gap is to stop people from jumping on the bridge itself at night : )

East link closes behind...

It feels like a seaside holiday town here on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay today...

Wed 13th May 2.24pm: It’s moving. Slowly! See all the people on the East link on the left...

Tuesday, 12th May 9.45pm - The ‘En Avant 7’ leaves with the barge that brought the pivot for the bridge. Beckett bridge itself is just visible in the distance, still parked outside the East Link, waiting for the right time to come through.

Monday, 11th May 2009, 3.05pm: Beckett Bridge arrived in the morning and now waits in Dublin Port  [It proved too windy to take it through that day...]

Sunday 10th May 2009, 3.15pm: The ‘En Avant 7’ (which brought the first barge of parts for the Beckett Bridge earlier this week) goes out under the East Link Bridge to meet the second barge carrying the new bridge.

Back to Main...

Niall Kelleher - 11th May 2009

• About / Original Image Archive...

• Tip offs, Feedback, Contact...