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WORK HAS OFFICIALLY begun on a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin.
The Commemorative Bridge will be located in the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, Dublin 8, and will link the gardens to the Chapelizod Road, which runs along the southern border of the Phoenix Park.
Minister of State for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, today marked the start start of the construction on the long-planned Commemorative Bridge, describing it as “a focal point joining many historic and heritage sites on both sides of the Liffey”.
The bridge will create a new formal entrance to the War Memorial Gardens from Chapelizod Road and provide improved access to key cultural landmarks including Kilmainham Gaol, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and the Magazine Fort.
Designed to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists, it will also form part of Dublin’s active travel network.
The OPW confirmed to The Journal today however that the bridge, once completed, will only open during the Memorial Gardens’ opening hours.
The Gardens are typically open from 8am until dusk.
Originally envisioned by renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, who designed the Memorial Gardens in the 1930s, the bridge has been a long-held ambition of the OPW and the War Memorial Gardens Trustees.
An international design competition in 2019 attracted over 60 entries from nine countries, with London-based Ritchie Studio selected as the winning team.
Following planning approval in 2024, construction firm John Sisk & Son was awarded the contract for the project.
Jointly funded by the OPW and the National Transport Authority, the project is expected to be completed in early 2027.
Minister Moran said the new bridge will serve as “a vital integral link in the city’s active travel infrastructure”.
The bridge will also serve as an architectural landmark, offering a more accessible entrance for the nearly half a million people who visit the Memorial Gardens each year.
The OPW has previously examined a number of methods to connect Chapelizod Road to the Memorial Gardens, including an ambitious plan in 2019 to install a funicular railway between the Gardens and the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park (as part of a strategic review of visitor attractions in the park).
It dropped the funicular plans later that year after submissions to the OPW as part of a public consultation on the review were largely unenthusiastic about a railway.
Some respondents claimed it was excessive while a few regarded it as a “gimmick” and unsuitable.
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