An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to the BusConnects corridor extending from Ringsend to the heart of Dublin. This includes the eagerly awaited construction of a bridge to connect the Poolbeg peninsula and the city. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has sought approval for 12 exclusive bus lanes, aimed at a comprehensive revamp of the bus network in the capital. The corridor in Ringsend is the seventh to receive approval with decisions pending for the final five.
The Ringsend scheme is slightly over 4km and is amongst the shortest of the 12 proposed corridors. Despite this, it includes essential changes in the city, like constructing a new bridge at the juncture of the Liffey and Dodder rivers and taking down two old bridges on North Wall Quay.
The Scherzer rolling lift bridges, dating back to 1912, are listed as protected structures by the Dublin City Council. They were initially built to let boats and barges transit from the Liffey to Spencer Dock, and further on to the Royal Canal. The enormous iron and steel structures still stand, although the diesel engines which enabled them to roll back and hoist the road surface have long been out of service.
Intimating that these bridges posed significant obstruction to buses on the north quays, the NTA stated that they reduced traffic to a single lane in both directions. The NTA argued that keeping these bridges would be an impediment to the BusConnects route, which is aimed at improving public transportation travel times and consistency through constant bus lane priority.
The NTA wants to disassemble the bridges and rebuild them nearby, but with a 180-degree rotation so that they run alongside, rather than across the road. This would make them accessible to cyclists and pedestrians, leaving the entire breadth of the newly formed road for buses and other vehicles.
The Dublin City Council has expressed their backing for the scheme but have previously shown grave concern through its conservation division regarding the potential adverse impact that relocating the historical bridges could inflict upon the heart of Dublin’s docklands. The council argued that resettling an architectural industrial heritage structure from its initial context could distort the comprehensibility of its original function, effectively downgrading it to merely aesthetic furniture.
Nevertheless, the board was in accord with the NTA’s standpoint. The council has without a doubt been a strong advocate for the new bridge’s construction at the south quay’s termination, stretching throughout the Dodder’s mouth.
The proposed public transport and cycling bridge, spanning 200 metres, is set to be positioned perpendicular to the Liffey’s Tom Clarke (East Link) Bridge. The council referred to it as “key infrastructure” to link the Poolbeg peninsula with the city centre. Approximately 3,000 flats are currently under construction at the former Glass Bottle factory site on the peninsula. Eight years prior, the council had aspirations to build the bridge themselves, however, these plans were shelved when the bridge’s creation was integrated into the BusConnects scheme.
The Ringsend CBC’s expansion starts from Sean Moore Road, adjacent to the Glass Bottle site, and stretches to Talbot Memorial Bridge near the Custom House, straddling both sides of the Liffey.
Six additional schemes have been greenlit by the board and will stretch to the city centre from various locations such as Liffey Valley, Clongriffin, Belfield/Blackrock, Ballymun/Finglas, Swords and Blanchardstown. The decision of the board regarding proposed routes from Lucan, Templeogue/Rathfarnham, Tallaght/Clondalkin, Kimmage and Bray is still pending.
Two of the approved plans, Clongriffin and Belfield/Blackrock, are currently under judicial review proceedings.