The collision left a large section of the bridge unguarded from the drop of the river below. The Caragh Bridge is the oldest bridge over the River Liffey with records dating back as far as 1656 and this has added complications to its repair. Due to it being a preserved structure until the Departmental approval is given engineers cannot touch it. The engineers from Kildare County Council have assessed the damage and it is considerable.
Plans for the repair are set to be finalised by the specialist engineer Craddock, this week and will be submitted to the Department of Heritage who must approve the plans before any work can begin. While awaiting the approval needed preparation work has begun to ensure that once granted permission the contractors can begin work immediately. It is estimated that the repair works could take up to six weeks to complete as the repair process must be recorded on behalf of the Department of Heritage. Based on the initial timeframe now in place that the bridge could be reopened by early November if all goes smoothly.
In the meantime Kildare County Council have diversions in place which are expected to remain in place until completion. There have been traffic lights set at Malone’s bridge with additional signage along the detour route. Motorists are asked to take extra precaution while using the detour route as there have been minor accidents already and it was already a busy rural road. You are to expect delays on your journey due to the heightened traffic travelling the route. It is being considered by Kildare County Council that pedestrians and cyclist may have access through the bridge but this remains undetermined as of yet.
While all of this is occurring people are asked to be conscious of the local business effected by the diversion and where possible to shop local as they are already seeing the damage to their business activity with the closure.
