Kilcullen's bridge 'is inspected periodically'

Regional road bridges throughout the country are regularly inspected by local authority engineers for structural integrity, writes Brian Byrne. Such inspections include the bridge at Kilcullen.

This was confirmed to the Diary by Kildare County Council this week, when we raised a query based on comments made at the recent public meeting in Kilcullen relating to the Ballyshannon extraction development proposal by Kilsaran Concrete.

A contributor to the meeting suggested that current and future possible frequency of HGV traffic over the bridge at Kilcullen could be a danger to a structure 'that was designed to accommodate carthorse traffic'.

Mick Sayer (above, speaking to the meeting chair, Ann Cashman) wondered if a 'doomsday situation' could occur if three or four trucks arrived over the bridge at once and he suggested that the National Roads Authority should be asked to look at the bridge and see if it is suitable for carrying such loads.

The actual situation is that TII (incorporating the NRA since 2015) inspects national route bridges under the Eirspan Bridge Management protocol developed by the then National Roads Authority. The protocol developed a database and inspection of all 3,500 national road bridges throughout the country.

Inspection of regional route bridges remains the responsibility of local authorities, and in Kildare are carried out on a periodic basis by the Council's own Roads Department engineers.

The downstream side of the bridge at Kilcullen on one side is understood to be several hundred years old, rebuilt after the original was destroyed in the Cromwellian Wars. The upstream side was widened in the 1970s.

The bridge is of masonry arch construction, a method used in 75pc of the estimated 23,000 bridges in the State. TII says they have proven to be 'reliable and enduring structures' and remain a vital part of the road network in Ireland.


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