Rosie Hackett Bridge

Rosie Hackett Bridge

Rosie Hackett Bridge during construction in 2014

Rosie Hackett Bridge during construction in 2014
Coordinates 53°20′53″N 6°15′25″W / 53.348°N 6.257°WCoordinates: 53°20′53″N 6°15′25″W / 53.348°N 6.257°W
Crosses River Liffey
Locale Dublin
Characteristics
Total length 48m
Width 26m
Number of spans Single span
History
Construction begin 2011
Construction end 20 May 2014

The Rosie Hackett Bridge is a road bridge in Dublin in Ireland, which opened on 20 May 2014.[1] Spanning the River Liffey and joining Marlborough Street to Hawkins Street,[2] it is intended solely for use by public transport, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. It is 26 metres wide and 48 metres long,[3] and is designed to be a slender, single span, smooth concrete structure, with the underside of the bridge designed to be as high above the water as possible so that river traffic is not impeded.[4] It is planned to carry the Luas BXD line, which is to connect the Luas Red and Green lines.[5] It was budgeted at €15 million,[6] and named for trade unionist Rosie Hackett.[7]

Use

The bridge is to carry the Luas BXD line, which is to connect the Luas Red and Green lines. However, until the Luas Cross City project is completed in 2017, the bridge is only used by Dublin Bus routes 14, 15, 27, 27x, 33x, 33d, 142 and 151, certain Bus Éireann services, taxis, bicycles and motorbikes.

Planning and construction

The bridge was proposed by Dublin City Council to carry the southbound line of the Luas BXD, to allow for the reorganisation of certain Dublin Bus routes, and to ease congestion by providing additional capacity for buses and taxis crossing the Liffey.[3]

Commentators argued that, being just 90 metres downstream from the very wide O'Connell Bridge, the new bridge could not bring much benefit, and any benefit would be cancelled out by the negative impact on the city's classical Georgian urban plan - especially to the symmetry of spacing between existing Liffey bridges.[8][6] Ultimately, following an environmental impact assessment and Bord Pleanála approval in 2009,[9] the project was approved without any changes to the planned location.[6][10]

Roughan and O'Donovan Consulting Engineers and Sean Harrington Architects were appointed by Dublin City Council to design and plan the bridge, and Graham Construction (who also constructed the Samuel Beckett Bridge) were awarded the construction contract.[11] Preparatory works commenced in late 2011, with bridge construction beginning in early 2012.[11][6] The bridge was officially opened on 20 May 2014.[1]

Name

In its planning and construction phases, the bridge was designated by the working name of The Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge.[4] The bridge received its permanent name on 2 September 2013 when Dublin City Council named it after trade union leader, Rosie Hackett, following a campaign to name the bridge after Hackett started by three women members of Labour Youth.[12] Other names shortlisted included Willie Bermingham, Frank Duff, Kathleen Mills, and Bram Stoker.[7] A report by De Borda institute asserted that the name selection process was the first time an Irish elected chamber used a non-majoritarian decision-making methodology.[13] In the naming committee, from an initial list of ten options, a Borda count was used to identify a short list of five options. And then, in plenary, another Borda count was applied to this short list to identify the final social choice: Rosie Hackett.[13]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rosie Hackett Bridge.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Rosie Hackett Bridge to open at 6am tomorrow". Irish Times Newspaper. 20 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Liffey bridge to be named after Lockout activist Rosie Hackett". Irish Times. 3 September 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Marlborough Street Bridge Synopsis" (PDF). Dublin City Council. August 2011.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge". Dublin City Council. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Marlborough Street Bridge". transportfordublin.ie. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Do we need €15m Liffey bridge?". Evening Herald. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "New Liffey bridge to be named after activist Rosie Hackett". RTÉ News. 2 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Marlborough Street bridge plan looks increasingly absurd amid decimated city centre traffic levels". 24 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "Case reference for Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge". An Bord Pleanála. July 2009.
  10. ↑ "Press Release: "Graham bridge another gap for Dublin City Council"". Graham Construction. January 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Lowdown on the bridge to link both sides of the Liffey" (PDF). Council Review - Journal for City and County Councils (Ocean Publishing) (43): 73. February 2014.
  12. ↑ "The Rosie Hackett Bridge campaign – the rediscovery of a forgotten history by Angelina Cox". Labour Party. 3 September 2013.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Dublin City Council - a record". de Borda Institute. 6 September 2013.

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