Planned €20 million cycling infrastructure project in Dublin is now shelved

Blood Stoney Bridge would have taken cyclists and pedestrians across the River Liffey. No vehicles would have been catered for on the bridge. However, the project has now hit a second major hurdle and planning issues with the bridge have dragged on for so long that the cost of constructing it is much higher now than when the project was first planned

A proposed new bridge across the River Liffey in Dublin that would have catered for cyclists, with a walkway for pedestrians, has now been shelved indefinitely by Dublin City Council.

In the latest blow to the proposed new bridge, An Bord Pleanála has refused an application by the council to move the location of the €20 million project.

Dublin City Council first got planning permission for a bridge, in the area east of Samuel Beckett Bridge, six years ago but later applied to change its location.

However, that application to move the bridge was refused
by An Bord Pleanála, which ruled it
must remain in its original intended location.

The council then
decided to change the planning scheme covering the docklands area to provide
for the bridge in the new location.

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However, while in submitted that application in August, An Bord Pleanála has now refused the application, effectively restating its position that the bridge should remain in its original intended location.

The new bridge would have fit in with the increasingly modern look of docklands area of Dublin City but now it has been shelved
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That ruling, now
the second time plans for the bridge have been rejected, means the project is
on hold indefinitely. The planning wrangle has unfolded over such a long time
that construction costs have increased very significantly since the bridge was
first mooted.

In its original
form, which An Bord Pleanála
wants retained, the bridge was planned to span the Liffey from London &
Northwestern Railway Co station on the north bank of the river to Forbes St on
the south side.

Dublin City Council wanted to move the bridge - called Blood Stoney Bridge – to cross the river about 150 metres east of the original location. That would mean span the river from Blood Stoney Road, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, to New Wapping Street, North Wall Quay.

The council initially argued if the bridge location was
allowed the project would not be delayed by the need to wait until the long-mooted
Dart Underground project was reviewed. It added if a section of the bridge had
to be built over a rail tunnel it would become prohibitively expensive.

However, An
Bord Pleanála said the bridge in its
original location offered the possibility for a direct connection from
the south side of the city to the Dart
Underground rail station that
was planned for an unspecified date in the future on the north side. 

And in its latest
ruling it has reiterated that stance and also said the bridge in its original
form generally better-served the amenities in the area.

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