Dublin Docklands - Sunset November 2009

Dublin Docklands - Sunset November 2009, originally uploaded by infomatique.

The Samuel Beckett Bridge, measuring 120 metres long and 48 metres high is currently under construction in Dublin's Docklands. It arrived on a barge into Dublin Port on 11th May 2009 having charted its way across the English Channel and Irish Sea. It was transported through the Eastlink Bridge during high tide on Wednesday 13th at 2.30pm and is now moored on a pontoon alongside the south quayside for the next few weeks before being put in place across the river in June. The superstructure began its odyssey at Graham-Hollandia JV Shipyard in Rotterdam on Monday 4th May.

Due to open in early 2010 following finishing and commissioning works, it will link Guild Street on the northside of the City with Sir John Rogerson's Quay on the southside - west of Cardiff Lane / Macken Street.

Construction began on the steel bridge superstructure in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in May 2007, concurrently with the associated civil and marine works on site in Dublin. As part of the civil and marine works, a reinforced concrete support pier has been cast in the river Liffey along with abutments behind the quay walls. The abutments and pier rest on piles up to 20 metres in length, which were bored into the limestone rock underneath the riverbed.

Dr. Santiago Calatrava Valls, one of the world's great architects and engineers, designed the Samuel Beckett Bridge. Dublin is now a member of an exclusive list of cities that are home to two Calatrava-designed bridges, the James Joyce Bridge having opened in 2003.