Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin, Ireland

The Samuel Beckett Bridge, Dublin City’s newest bridge, is now established as a landmark movable structure spanning the maritime gateway to the city. The bridge is located east of the city’s centre and within the ‘heart’ of the newly developed docklands area, facilitating an important urban transport link for private car use, public transport, cyclists and pedestrians; and contributing towards the improved environmental, commercial and social development of the urban area in which it is located. The bridge is a Calatrava-designed, cable-stayed, steel box girder structure, with a span, across the River Liffey, of 123 m. The bridge, which rotates through 90°, has an asymmetric shape reflecting that of a harp laid on its side, with the base to the cable-stayed steel pylon set outside of the river’s navigational channel – 28 m from the river’s south quay wall. The pylon curves northwards to a point 46 m above the water level with 25 forestay cables set in a ‘harp’ formation. This paper describes the basis of ...