The long wait ends

The latest addition to Dublin's skyline finally made its way along the river this afternoon. The swiveling centre section of the city's latest bridge was fabricated in Rotterdam and left there ten days ago. It's been stranded out in Dublin Bay since the weekend, and several attempts to move it through the East Link Bridge had to be abandoned because of high winds. Conditions changed overnight, and the delicate operation of manoeuvering the structure past the bridge took place between two and four o'clock today. Naturally, I was there to blip the event.

It will be several weeks more before the centre span is put in place on its supporting piers, and the bridge won't be open to traffic until the beginning of next year. The design (supposedly inspired by the shape of the Irish harp) is the work of Santiago Calatrava. Following what is now an established tradition, it will be known as the Samuel Beckett Bridge when complete (other recent bridges across the Liffey have been named in honour of James Joyce and Seán O'Casey).