A new road bridge, radically different in design from existing bridges along the Liffey, is being proposed by Dublin Corporation to link Blackhall Place with Usher's Island.
The bridge, which will cost at least £2.8 million, has been designed by Dr Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish engineer-architect whose dynamic sculptural forms have made him one of the world's most renowned bridge designers.
Dr Calatrava was directly commissioned by the city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, to design the Blackhall Place bridge, as well as an even more significant bridge planned by the corporation at Macken Street, in the docklands area.
The corporation took the view that these locations were so prominent that bridges of considerable aesthetic merit would be required, which would also "reflect the importance and status of Dublin city at the end of the second millennium".
The Blackhall Place bridge is an essential element of the North King Street area road-improvement plan, which is intended to provide a relief route west of the city centre to cater for traffic displaced from O'Connell Street.
An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project, which is currently on public exhibition at the Civic Offices, notes that existing bridges on the city stretch of the Liffey are either three-span masonry arches or single-span iron arches.
The bridge proposed by Dr Calatrava for Blackhall Place follows the theme of arch bridges, but in a dramatically different style. Its chief feature is a pair of inclined steel arches, from which the concrete deck is suspended by high-tensile hangers.
The parabolic arches, which will rise to a height of 8.5 metres (28 feet), are inclined over two curving footpaths on either side of the four-lane carriageway. The arches, hangers and balustrades will all be illuminated by floodlighting.
The EIS concedes that the presence of this new bridge would fundamentally alter existing vistas along the quays from Heuston Station to the Civic Offices simply because it would be much more visible than the existing Liffey bridges.
This would apply in particular to the vista along the north quays from Heuston Station towards the city centre, which is "probably the view of Dublin with which generations of travellers from points south and west of the country are most familiar".
It would also open up views from Blackhall Place of No 15 Usher's Island, the Georgian house where James Joyce set his most famous short story The Dead. This important historic building is now being restored after years of dereliction.
A number of more conventional designs were scrapped in favour of Dr Calatrava's "signature" project.
The corporation is also planning a new pedestrian bridge to link Eustace Street with Ormond Quay, west of the Ha'penny Bridge. This emerged from a major design competition last year and is now expected to cost £1.5 million, twice the original estimate.
A model of the proposed Blackhall Place bridge, together with drawings and copies of the EIS may be inspected at the Civic Offices until May 21st. Any objections or submissions must be made to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, by June 4th.
