Rosie Hackett Bridge

The Rosie Hackett Bridge (Irish: Droichead Róise Haicéid)[2] is a road and tram bridge in Dublin, Ireland, which opened on 20 May 2014.[3][1] Spanning the River Liffey and joining Marlborough Street to Hawkins Street,[4] it is used solely by public transport, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. It is 26 metres wide and 48 metres long,[5] and is a 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.[6] It was built to carry the extended Luas Green line,[7] and was budgeted at €15 million.[8] It is named for trade unionist Rosie Hackett.[9]

Rosie Hackett Bridge

Droichead Róise Haicéid
The bridge, with passing river traffic, in 2018
Coordinates53.348°N 6.257°W / 53.348; -6.257
CrossesRiver Liffey
LocaleDublin
Named forRosie Hackett, an Irish trade union leader known for being co-founder of the Irish Women Workers' Union
Characteristics
Total length48 metres (157 ft)
Width26 metres (85 ft)[1]
No. of spansSingle span
History
Construction start2011
Construction end20 May 2014 (2014-05-20)
Rosie Hackett Bridge
Location in Central Dublin

Use

The bridge carries the Luas Green line, which connects via an extension with the Luas Red line, and opened in December 2017.[10] The bridge is also used by other public transport services, including Dublin Bus routes 14, 15, 27, 27x, 33x, 33d, 142 and 151, certain Bus Éireann services, taxis, bicycles and motorbikes.[1]

Planning and construction

The bridge was proposed by Dublin City Council to carry the southbound line of the Luas Green line, 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.[5]

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.[11][8] Ultimately, following an environmental impact assessment and Bord Pleanála approval in 2009,[12] the project was approved without any changes to the planned location.[8][13]

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.[14] Preparatory works commenced in late 2011, with bridge construction beginning in early 2012.[14][8] The bridge was officially opened on 20 May 2014,[3] with Luas services officially commencing on 9 December 2017.[10]

Name

In its planning and construction phases, the bridge was designated by the working name of The Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge.[6] Dublin City Council invited nominations from the public for the bridge's final name. Ten nominations were referred to the council's naming committee, which used a Borda count to shortlist five names for a plenary meeting of the council, where another Borda count on 2 September 2013 chose to name it after Rosie Hackett, a trade unionist and republican revolutionary.[15][16] Hackett had been nominated by three women members of Labour Youth.[15] The other four shortlisted were Willie Bermingham, Frank Duff, Kathleen Mills, and Bram Stoker.[9] The De Borda Institute asserted that the name selection process was the first time an Irish elected chamber used a non-majoritarian decision-making methodology.[16] Some media reports characterised it as the first Liffey bridge named after a woman,[17][18][19] though other bridges used to be.[fn 1]

Footnotes
  1. Mellows Bridge had been Queen's Bridge after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and later Queen Maeve's Bridge;[20] Island Bridge had been Sarah Bridge after Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland;[21] Rory O'More Bridge had been Victoria and Albert Bridge.[22] Additionally, Anna Livia Bridge is named after a female personification of the River Liffey;[23]
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References
  1. "Rosie Hackett Bridge". Bridges of Dublin. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  2. "Droichead Róise Haicéid". Placenames Commission. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  3. "Rosie Hackett Bridge to open at 6am tomorrow". Irish Times Newspaper. 20 May 2014.
  4. "Liffey bridge to be named after Lockout activist Rosie Hackett". Irish Times. 3 September 2013.
  5. "Marlborough Street Bridge Synopsis" (PDF). Dublin City Council. August 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-11-27.
  6. "Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge". Dublin City Council. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. "Marlborough Street Bridge". transportfordublin.ie. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  8. "Do we need €15m Liffey bridge?". Evening Herald. 28 April 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  9. "New Liffey bridge to be named after activist Rosie Hackett". RTÉ News. 2 September 2013.
  10. "Taoiseach launches new Luas Cross City service in Dublin". RTÉ. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  11. "Marlborough Street bridge plan looks increasingly absurd amid decimated city centre traffic levels". 24 January 2012.
  12. "Case reference for Marlborough Street Public Transport Priority Bridge". An Bord Pleanála. July 2009.
  13. "Press Release: "Graham bridge another gap for Dublin City Council"". Graham Construction. January 2012.
  14. "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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-13.
  15. "The Rosie Hackett Bridge campaign – the rediscovery of a forgotten history by Angelina Cox". Labour Party. 3 September 2013. Archived from the original on 7 March 2014.
  16. "Dublin City Council - a record". de Borda Institute. 6 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 March 2014.
  17. "Rosie Hackett Bridge officially opened". RTÉ.ie. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 12 June 2015. It is the first Liffey bridge to be named after a woman
  18. Bohan, Christine (2 September 2013). "Drumroll please: And the new bridge in Dublin city will be called…". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 12 June 2015. It will become the first bridge over the river Liffey to be named after a woman
  19. Hade, Emma Jane (15 May 2014). "Landmark Liffey bridge ready for grand opening". Irish Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2015. The first bridge crossing the River Liffey to be named after a woman will be opened next week.
  20. "Mellows Bridge". Bridges of Dublin. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  21. "Island Bridge". Bridges of Dublin. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  22. "Rory O'More Bridge". Bridges of Dublin. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  23. "Anna Livia Bridge". Bridges of Dublin. Dublin City Council. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
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