Mulroy Bridge Donegal
Mulroy Bridge Donegal – one of the largest bridges in Ireland and it has been successfully constructed in an area of outstanding beauty, an extremely sensitive Special Area of Conservation and a Natural Habitat Area.
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The new Mulroy Bridge replaces an old ferry that plied the bay to connect two communities of Carrigart and Fanad up to mid 1960s. It served the entire transport needs of the community, including the local postal service.
The bridge is a high level and multi-span bridge across Mulroy Bay, County Donegal, with associated approach roads. The bridge length is 340m and it comprises 5 spans, with a main span of 100 metres.
The €17.5m project is the final part in a tourist route travelling westwards from Co. Antrim, crossing Lough Foyle by ferry, again by ferry across Lough Swilly, and finally by the new bridge from the Fanad Peninsula to Rosguill. Prior to the construction of the bridge, the journey time between the Fanad Peninsula and the Rosguill Peninsula, was up to 2 hours (50km) – it now takes 5 to 10 minutes.
The use of the balanced cantilever construction method, for medium and long span concrete bridges, is recommended especially where scaffolding is difficult or impossible to erect e.g., over deep valleys, wide rivers, live motorways or in this case a tidal bay of extreme environmental importance.