Two massive infrastructure improvements--one underway, the other recently completed--aim to transform transportation connections in and out of central Dublin. Below, a video describes DART Underground, which will unite multiple modes of transportation and forge a new and vital link under the ancient city center.
To the east of where most DART Underground construction will take place, a new, high-tech, harp-like bridge gracefully spans the River Liffey.
(Via the Guardian.)
The designer was Santiago Calatrava, the Valencian architect who has
made expressionist bridges and weirdly torqued structures a trademark.
Never mind that Beckett made a virtue of muted understatement. The
writer once said "Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence
and nothingness". Calatrava does not think that way. He's in the
landmark business.
This is Calatrava's second bridge in Dublin – the first was dedicated to James Joyce and opened in 2003. The new Beckett Bridge is technically interesting: the structure is cable-stayed from a 40-metre pylon. The span across the Liffey is 124m and carries two lanes of motor traffic, one of cycles and one of Godots. Trains may come later. Hydraulic apparatus allows the bridge to swing through 90 degrees in the horizontal plane to allow ships to pass.
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