Donegal's iconic Iron bridge has been successfully rebuilt in a €1 million project.

The town's Tyrconnell Bridge, also known as the Green bridge, was restored and blended with the new construction to form a replica of the old bridge.

This bridge, which is listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, was originally constructed in 1895 by the contractor W.J. Glen C.E from Stranorlar costing £1,600. This four-span road bridge over River Eske and the New Row Road was built as part of the infrastructure for the narrow guage rail network that made up the County Donegal Railway to transport goods from the local harbour to the County Donegal Railways rail station.

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The new bridge has a 125 year design life, is 30m long and constructed from six plate girders and has four individual spans 6m in length, three river spans and one over New Row. The bridge is supported on original sandstone ashlar abutments and piers and has been designed to closely match the original bridge. The existing masonry sub structure has been repaired with matching materials and traditional methodologies with new locally sourced sandstone copings. 

Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council Cllr Seamus O Domhnaill and Cathaoirleach of Donegal MD Cllr Micheal Naughton officially opened the new bridge yesterday, Tuesday 21 May. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Cllr Naughton said: "This was a complex project and a very important project for the people of Donegal Town. This bridge is part of the towns fabric and in designing this new bridge a lot of factors had to be taken into account. For instance the architectural heritage and the importance of designing a replica structure, the status of the River Eske as a Special area of conservation (SAC), the need to take into account modern design and loading standards, pedestrian links as well as the practical the long term maintenance of the structure."

Contractor L&M Keating worked on the project with designers Roughan O Donovan and assistance from organisations like ESB, Openeir and ENET.

(CM/MH)