A new bridge is set to be installed in Cork city next month, connecting Patricks Quay and Merchants Quay.

The 165-tonne structure, named Mary Elmes Bridge, will be used by up to 11,000 people each day.

The pedestrian and cycle bridge was fabricated by Thompsons of Carlow.

It will be transported by barge from the Cobh shipping yard where it was assembled for its city centre location.

On the week of 13 May, the bridge will be lifted onto a barge using the combined lifting power of a 500 tonne crane and a 750 tonne crane. Two tugboats will assist the barge as it travels upriver to the bridge's new home.

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The same two 500 and 750 tonne cranes, which lifted the bridge in Cobh, will be erected on Merchants Quay and St Patrick's Quay. Subject to suitable weather conditions, the cranes will raise the bridge's superstructure from the barge and place it on the newly-built abutments (supports) on the quays.

Lord Mayor, Cllr Mick Finn said: "After a vibrant public consultation process, Cork City Council voted to name this new piece of city infrastructure as the Mary Elmes' Bridge, often described as the Irish Oskar Schindler for her heroism during World War II. This new bridge will be one of the key elements in a plan to promote and develop transport in and around the city. The installation of the bridge itself will be a historic moment for the city and I encourage people to turn up and view it from the river banks."

(CM/MH)