Connemara motorists facing 110km diversions

Alun

Connemara motorists facing 110km diversions
Wednesday, 18 July 2007 19:50

There is widespread traffic diversions in Connemara following the collapse of a bridge in the centre of Leenane.

Motorists are being warned that they now face diversions of over 110km.

The century old stone arched bridge on the main Clifden to Westport road collapsed shortly before 5pm.

Galway County Council says one of the arches was swept away following three hours of torrential rain; the second arch collapsed a short time later.

The N59 road through the village is now closed.

Local residents say it is a miracle that nobody was injured by the collapse.

The road is one of the busiest in west Galway and carries a very large volume of tourist traffic.

The council says it will be examining the possibility of a temporary bridge but this could take a considerable time to put in place.

Ouch!

mike65

Just heard that, I can't think of any similair incident that could cause such a masive detour in the SE! Thank gawd.

Mike.

AndrewMc

How many more towns are reliant on a single old stone bridge, either to join one half of the town to the other, or to join the town to the next "main" town? Many, I'd imagine.

ballooba

The Army should be sending people down to sort this. Surely they can do this craic in hours?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_bridge

Ham'nd'egger

AndrewMc wrote:

How many more towns are reliant on a single old stone bridge, either to join one half of the town to the other, or to join the town to the next "main" town? Many, I'd imagine.

To be fair, it could happen on any road on any given day; it is just bad luck that it has happened where it did. The area is full of old stone bridges and the whole area there is infamous for flooding rivers after heavy rain.

Curiously enough, about 25 years ago, a bridge on the road linking Leenane to Tourmakeady had a bridge collapse after a heavy lorry passed over a weakened bridge; ironically enough, this road is one of the main local diversion routes to avoid the now collapsed bridge!

KC61

ballooba wrote:

The Army should be sending people down to sort this. Surely they can do this craic in hours?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_bridge

Give them a chance, the bridge only collapsed at 5pm last night.

Before doing anything I would think that you'd have to wait for the waters to subside first, then take an engineering survey, and then assess the options for a temporary bridge, which is (from today's Irish Times) exactly what Galway County Council are going to do.

ballooba

KC61 wrote:

Give them a chance, the bridge only collapsed at 5pm last night.

Before doing anything I would think that you'd have to wait for the waters to subside first, then take an engineering survey, and then assess the options for a temporary bridge, which is (from today's Irish Times) exactly what Galway County Council are going to do.

I didn't mean that literally btw. I'd say they will use a Bailey bridge though.

Chris_533976

As long as they get it sorted quickly rather than ****ing about like they did at the start of the water problems.

I'd be interested in seeing the bridges maintenance record though. I know this kind of thing is unpredictable, but I'd still love to see how often there was maintenance done on it.

yaledo

Excerpt from "The life and letters of Maria Edgeworth, Vol 2" available at the excellent www.gutenburg.org
1834 account of the bridge in question (or lack thereof)

We were obliged to wait for the going out of the tide before we
could cross the sands. Here was an arm of the sea, across which Mr.
Nimmo had been employed to build a bridge, and against Big Jack Joyce's
advice, he would build it where Jack prophesied it would be swept away
in the winter, and twice the bridge was built, and twice it was swept
away, and still Nimmo said it was the fault of the masons; the
embankment and his theory could not be wrong, and a third time he built
the bridge, and there we saw the ruins of it on the sands--all the
embankments swept away

KC61

From www.rte.ie/news

Work has begun on building a temporary bridge in Leenane, Co Galway, following the collapse of the village's century-old bridge in a landslide and flash flood yesterday evening.

Local authorities say they hope the temporary crossing will be in place within a fortnight.

Teams of council workers with earth moving machines moved into the village early this morning and began site excavation work for the emergency bridge.

Senior Engineer Evan Molloy says they hope to have the temporary bridge, capable of carrying light traffic, in place in two weeks.

Until then thousands of local people and tourists will have to make huge diversions of up to 100km around and away from the village.

The bridge, which is on the main N59 link road between Clifden and Westport, carried up to 4,000 vehicles a day, including almost all of the area's tourist traffic. It was a link for motorists between counties Galway and Mayo.

The council is also working on the provision of a temporary footbridge to link the two sides of Leenane, which are now cut off from each other.

The 100-year-old bridge was destroyed yesterday evening after four hours of torrential rain and a landslide that swept tonnes of debris down river.

Two of its three arches were swept away in minutes.

Leenane Development Association says it is delighted the council has moved so swiftly to the replace bridge.

Chairperson Ann Donnell said any delay in reopening the gateway N59 road through the village would have disastrous consequences for the area, which is almost totally dependent on tourism.

Victor

Ah! I was hoping someone would blow up the bridges across the Corrib and then Connemara could declare independence!

Chris_533976

Or Galway could blow up all the bridges, attach engines to Connemara and float it out into the Atlantic

talkingclock

KC61 wrote:

From www.rte.ie/news

Local authorities say they hope the temporary crossing will be in place within a fortnight.

Two weeks? that's a fúcking joke, alright?!

In other germany the civil defense can build a new temporary bridge within hours!!!

talkingclock

talkingclock wrote:

Two weeks? that's a fúcking joke, alright?!

In other germany the civil defense can build a new temporary bridge within hours!!!

Only when there is a war on!! :rolleyes: invading army has one ready for immediate use, but without regard for civilians, property etc.. well then it's possible to "throw one in" for a couple of weeks.

Mayo Exile

Originally posted by Chris_533976: Or Galway could blow up all the bridges, attach engines to Connemara and float it out into the Atlantic

We could tow it clear across the Atlantic and park it near Long Island and take advantage of the current excellent euro/dollar exchange rate and pop into Manhattan for some cheapie shopping!

Fratton Fred

Mayo Exile wrote:

We could tow it clear across the Atlantic and park it near Long Island and take advantage of the current excellent euro/dollar exchange rate and pop into Manhattan for some cheapie shopping!

I'd go further south myself. A little piece of Ireland in the Carribean:D

parsi

talkingclock wrote:

Two weeks? that's a fúcking joke, alright?!

In other germany the civil defense can build a new temporary bridge within hours!!!

I'm sure a bridge could be thrownup in no time. That's grand in wartime or in the army where you don't have to worry about idiots driving over at 90mph , skidding and then suing the army for building a bridge which didn't exactly comply with ISO9999999 .

talkingclock

It would be a temporary bridge and I'm sure even they hav DIN/ISO standards. We are talking about Germany!

Victor

Actually there is a much shorter route of about 70km, although its up a minor road on a mountain.

Having a look at my michelin map, this seems to be about the worst detour available if a bridge is lost, although there is one in south Connemara (Spiddel - Oughterard) and one in north west Mayo (Bangor - Newport) that are similar, you are litterally down to trails.

Mainstream, the worst detour seems to be the Blackwater Bridge at Youghal or the loss of one of coastal car ferries, e.g. Tarbert - Killimer.

Capt'n Midnight

where are the army supposed to get briges from ??

didn't some norn iron guy in a truck full of sheep break the last one they had.

as in yes the army can put up bridges, but not when the temporay bridges they have are in use permenantly because the local authorities aren't repairng the broken ones.

Private Joker

there is a temporary bailey bridge going in, the concrete base for which has gone in , which was finished yesterday at about 5pm.

i may or may not work for galway county council, so i may or not be able to answer any questions about the bridge . the timescale of 2 weeks is a realistic timescale for building such a bridge to comply with regulations . but as it stands galway county council is hoping to have the bridge completed by thursday of next week (26th of july).

this bridge will be in place until a replacement bridge is operational where the existing bridge is . as you can appreciate it would be impossible to put a temporary bridge in the same location as the new bridge is to be located.

If anyone wants to post a question about anything regarding the above project, please do and i'll try and answer your questions

Victor

I think Cork City Council owns its own Bailey Bridge, for use when repairing / rebuilding other bridges. They have the habit of leaving it in-situ until they need it again.

I don't know if the span suits.

Victor

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0330/leenane.html

Leenane marks opening of new bridge
Monday, 30 March 2009 22:39

The village of Leenane in Connemara is today celebrating the completion of a new €2m bridge.

The new bridge replaces a 150-year-old bridge, which was destroyed by a flash flood in July 2007.

The original bridge was designed by Scottish engineer Alexander Nimmo and played an important role in opening up tourism and travel on the west coast.

AdvertisementFor a period the village, which is built on both sides of the Leenane River, was divided and local people had to make long detours.

The N59 road between Clifden and Westport was reopened when a temporary single-lane bridge was installed.

Now a new two-lane bridge, which retains the cut-stone character of the old bridge, has been completed and was officially opened today.

Ann Donald of the Leenane Development Association said the village is delighted that the bridge has been replaced, as it is vital for the area's tourist industry.

The bridge is used by about 4,000 vehicles a day.

talkingclock

Just a bit below the two year mark? Wow! How long is that bridge?

I'm just asking because they've built the Oresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark within 5 years. Bear in mind that this bridge is about 8km long and goes right through the Baltic Sea and in parts in a tunnel.

That Connemara thing must be an impressive structure then if it took 2 years to build...

L1011

I think they were trying to reuse as much of the old stone as possible; plus that 2 years included the planning and funding - that would have been done before the 5 years on the Oresund.

Still too long, though.