Proposed Bridges

Planned

Chapelizod Pedestrian Bridge

This proposed pedestrian bridge, to be located along the western portion of Liffey Valley Park, will link the existing south bank path with a new walkway along the north bank of the park. It will provide a shorter route to the park for the village of Chapelizod and its hinterland and create new walking and cycling circuits from Dublin City centre. Henchion+Reuter’s winning design is a steel beam bridge with a span width of 40m. The bridge will be lit by a continuous strip of LED lights incorporated into the handrail. The bridge is to be pre-fabricated as a single piece off-site. The project is currently on hold.

Metro West - Liffey Valley Bridge

The Metro West - Liffey Valley Bridge will form part of the Metro West light rail system that will run from Tallaght, south-west of Dublin, to the airport in the north. The winning design, by Explorations Architecture of Paris with UK engineers Buro Happold, is a 350 metres long, 17 metres wide suspension bridge that will span the valley 9 kilometres west of the city. Supports drop below the deck towards the middle of the bridge, affording pedestrians uninterrupted views of the valley.

Planning on the Metro West Project was suspended in September 2011 following a review by Leo Varadkar, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Never built

Custom House Bridge

In 1916 the Civics Institute of Ireland held a competition for suggestions and designs for the city planning of Dublin. The winner was Patrick Abercrombie and this competitive design formed the basis of the Abercrombie Report published in 1922, which suggested the removal of Butt Bridge (which was then in a dangerous state) and the completion of the crescent around the Custom House by filling in the redundant dock. In addition a new bridge, positioned centrally in front of the Custom House, was to be constructed. The Loopline Bridge was to be removed and Amiens Street Railway Station (now Connolly) extended down to the quayside. Nothing ever came of this report and Abercrombie’s recommendations were largely ignored. It is believed that owing to the events of Easter 1916 and the subsequent war of independence; by the time the report was finally published in 1922, the situation in Ireland had been transformed.

Hugh Lane’s Bridge Gallery

Hugh Lane’s donation of a major art collection to the city of Dublin in 1906 caused the Corporation a major headache. Lane, a successful self-trained art expert, donated dozens of the finest modern European paintings - on condition that the city provides a permanent gallery to house them. By 1913 however, no permanent home had been found for the donation. Keen to keep the project moving forward, Lane’s plan, drawn up by his celebrated architect friend, Edwin Lutyens, was for two pavilions, each in itself a major gallery to be crowned with suitable statuary. They would stand apart, on either side of the river with an elliptical arch stone bridge, surmounting a minor gallery connecting them. Building the bridge would mean removing the existing Ha’penny Bridge.

Opponents criticised Lutyen’s proposed bridge site as too expensive, and the monies should be best used to house the poor. Lane’s supporters felt that by opening a gallery dedicated to Modern Art, Dublin could take her rightful place among the capitals of Europe. Heated meetings of the Municipal Council struggled to final a solution that would keep the paintings in the city while avoiding major expense. When the Municipal Council finally rejected the idea of a gallery across the river in September 1913, Lane withdrew thirty-nine of the best paintings.