On foot of concerns raised by local residents in lower Marino I’ve been lobbying the traffic dept in City Council to undertake a detailed examination of the bridge. Finally managed to get the item on the Agenda for the City Council area meeting in July. The related report certainly highlights some issues that will need to be addressed – preferably in tandem with the Park improvement works. The full detail of the report is as follows:

Report to North Central Area Committee – July 2010

Report on Condition of Footbridge at Fairview.

 The last inspections of the pedestrian over-bridge at Fairview Park indicated the following:

1.       The bridge is being used by approximately forty persons per hour throughout day time hours, and is inaccessible for mobility impaired and disabled users.

2.       The over-bridge does not include for a parapet and canopy detail to prevent objects falling, or being thrown, from the bridge.

3.       The bridge supports are close to live traffic and are not provided with heavy barrier protection.

4.       The level of corrosion protection, painting and maintenance works on the bridge requires improvement.

The results of the inspection indicate that considerable works are required in order to improve the condition and layout of the bridge.  The improvement options considered are as follows:

a.       To address all of the issues highlighted in the inspections above it would be necessary to replace the existing bridge with a new bridge at an estimated cost of €2 million, excluding the cost of any lands necessary for the inclusion of pedestrian access ramps to the bridge.

b.       To maintain the existing bridge and address the corrosion protection and painting of the existing bridge at an estimated cost of approximately €250,000.  This cost would not reduce the future cost of removing and replacing the existing bridge structure in order to provide a satisfactory level of service.

As the current year’s road maintenance budget does not include for sufficient resources to facilitate the above options a further option of removing the existing bridge structure and the installation of an at-grade signalised pedestrian crossing in the vicinity of the existing bridge was considered for examination.

The feasibility of removing the existing bridge and providing an at-grade signalised pedestrian crossing is currently being assessed.

 John W. Flanagan

Senior Engineer, Roads & Traffic Department