Plans announced for the construction of the largest bridge built in the state that will cross the Liffey valley linking Dublin north and south.
The toll bridge is to be built by a private enterprise joining the Galway Road at Palmerstown and the Navan Road at Blanchardstown and will form part of the Dublin Ring Road.
Crossing the Strawberry Beds, a valley along the River Liffey the bridge will be the largest ever built in the state. Engineer Michael Cooke describes how the bridge will span not just the river but the entire valley at 385 metres long at a height of over 40 metres. He describes the plan as,
A major civil engineering feat.
It is expected that the charge to use the bridge will be about sixty pence. The £30 million project will be financed by a private consortium.
The project was launched by Minister for the Environment Padraig Flynn.
This is the most important road development this century. It's part of the Dublin Ring Road, some 35 kilometres that will provide a super road right around the whole of Dublin city.
Padraig Flynn also clarifies that the project is being fully funded by the private sector without any state funding. He is satisfied that people will be willing to pay the sixty pence to use the bridge.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 17 June 1987. The reporter is Alan McCullough.
