Rosie's bottom at last

[Kirbstone]

I refer to a new bridge spanning the Liffey in Downtown Dublin, built for trams & busses &c. named Rosie Hackett.

For more than a year now we rowers have been struggling to get under the associated works on our way down to the docks. Having completed the basic concrete structure they have been stripping the piles & metal frameworks &c away, and on March 1st yesterday we had our first unobstructed row through and close inspection of Rosie's newly bared curvaceous bottom. She has an amazingly slim waist, too, considering the loads she will bear every day......Articulated trams down the middle, busses either side and wide footpaths/cycle lanes. I note also that they are installing bank-to-bank seating along the footways.....nice for old people like me!

It is nice however to have our waterway once again free of obstruction and we can now shoot Rosie at full throttle.

Tom

[Sinned]

I take it that nothing taller than a rowing boat is to go under the bridge? Are you in danger of decapitation going under it?

[Kirbstone]

Not any more. Pic. taken at high tide yesterday. Rosie now has more headroom under than any of the adjacent bridges. It's been built in the downtown area away from the navigable docks further downstream where we have two swing bridges and a bascule.

The brief for downtown bridges are traffic and wheelchair friendliness. The river underneath doesn't lead anywhere and is only used by rowers, canoeists and small following/safety launches. In times of yore the Guinness barges plying through the city from the Guinness wharf to their ships in the docklands had tippable funnels for passing under the bridges.

Tom.

[crfriend]

Thanks for posting those shots, Tom. It's always nice to see the landscape in far-off places.

What was the time-to-completion for the bridge from start to finish?

[Kirbstone]

Hi Carl,

Not that they're in a mad rush, but the official opening won't be until May this year, they having taken all of two years since starting on the foundations. That cross-city Luas tramline won't be complete for a couple of years yet, so no rumbling trams on it until then, even though the tracks are already laid there.

Rosie Hacket br. Dublin.jpg

Dennis, Apart from two railway bridges and the iconic Ha'penny footbridge, all Dublin's bridges are at street traffic level. Some old ones are a bit humped, but most are flat or almost so. The Ha'penny bridge was built at a time when wheelchair access wasn't thought about and it has steps at either end.

800px-HalfPennyBridge.jpg

The largest craft to use the waterway were the Guinness barges, which were replaced by lorries in the 60s, more the pity!

Guinness_Liffey_1960_.jpg

Tom.

[crfriend]

Not that they're in a mad rush, but the official opening won't be until May this year, they having taken all of two years since starting on the foundations. That cross-city Luas tramline won't be complete for a couple of years yet, so no rumbling trams on it until then, even though the tracks are already laid there.

I read that this morning, and I hope the opening goes well, but in the interim I'm happy for you that you no longer have to duck or otherwise protect noggins when passing beneath.

The largest craft to use the waterway were the Guinness barges, which were replaced by lorries in the 60s, more the pity!

That shot just makes me want to cry. Whatever of steam-powered tugs hauling precious cargo hither, thither, and yon?