Cork's Shakey Bridge returns as last restored section installed
In a time of self-isolation, the installation of the final restored section of Cork’s landmark Daly’s bridge took on an added significance today.
Engineers working on the €1.7m repair and restoration of the near century-old suspension bridge, known fondly as the Shakey Bridge because of its quirky wobble, hoisted the central section into place around lunchtime and bolted it into place.
The entire bridge deck has now been replaced less than five months after it was removed. But it will be April before people can cross it and find out if it still retains its famous shake.
Historian, Cllr Kieran McCarthy, who spent almost a decade lobbying for its repair and restoration, watched from the riverbank as the engineers worked: "It’’s actually really exciting. And in fairness to the workers, they are doing their best at social distancing while finishing off the job. They have done a fantastic job — it looks great. It looks fresh, but still retains that sense of an old-world."
"The bridge, when it was installed almost a century ago, was more than just a physical structure. It was about hope, about philanthropy, about connecting people, crossing from one historic part of Cork to another.
And of the 30 or so bridges that we have in the city, this is the one that people have a personal connection to. And so it’’s nice that that personal connection has been looked after, especially in an age where sometimes money doesn’t go towards conservation and protection of old things.
Anne Franey, from Blackrock, who walks the riverbank regularly, stopped to watch as the final section was installed: "The bridge isn’t on my route but I would walk across it just for the fun of it," she said.
"I was a bit worried when it came down that it would never come back so it’’s fantastic to see it back, and so soon. It’’s pure Cork - it’’s synonymous with Cork — this bridge, and Shandon, and Roy Keane."
But she said it’s vital that the shake is retained: "It wouldn’t be the same without the shake."
Mr McCarthy said he would now like to see a similarly extensive restoration project undertaken on Parliament bridge, which was installed in 1806.
Since last September, the sections of Daly’s bridge have undergone extensive repairs and conservation work, including grit-blasting and repainting. Most of the original latticework has been retained and a new deck has been installed.
A shingle beach has been built under its northern tower, and a new LED lighting system has been installed discreetly into the bridge structure. The bridge towers have been repaired and repainted in situ, and the Italian-made suspension cables have been replaced.
The near 60-metre pedestrian bridge — a single-span steel suspension bridge over the north channel of the river Lee, linking Sunday’’s Well to Fitzgerald’’s Park — was opened in 1927.
Its construction was part-funded by butter-merchant James Daly, who lived in Shanakiel, and whose company exported Irish butter all over the world.
It is Cork’s only suspension bridge, it is Ireland’s only surviving pedestrian suspension bridge of its type and age, and it is a protected structure.
The project, which is being funded by Cork City Council and the Department of Transport, involves experts from RPS Consulting Engineers, JCA Conservation Architects, and Keating, who built the Mary Elmes bridge.
