Everything you need to know about the New Ross Bypass Bridge
Ireland’s longest bridge is now open
The opening was performed yesterday by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar with Rose Katherine Kennedy Townsend, a great-granddaughter of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy and grand-niece of the late president.
Local New Ross Company Nolans Transport got the opportunity to be the first company to cross the bridge this morning.
N25 New Ross Bypass Charity Walk
**(Updated 29th January 2020)
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will be cutting the ribbon at midday on Wednesday the 29th January…..with the bridge then opening to traffic at noon the next day.
**(Updated 05th December 2019)
The New N25 Bypass Bridge – Due to open in a matter of weeks
“Wexford County Council is delighted to confirm that the N25 Bypass is nearing completion. We envisage that the Bypass will open in a matter of weeks. Finishing works are nearing completion, and there are a number of factors that may influence the actual opening date. These include the seasonally variable weather, the onset of the Christmas holiday period and the significant arrangements that need to be implemented for the opening of such a major road project.
Either way, the opening is a matter of weeks away and we will be endeavouring to announce the opening date as soon as possible. A lot of work has been completed in recent weeks, and should the opening fall into January, we wish all those working on the project a well deserved Christmas break and we will have a very good news story to kick off 2020 for the New Ross area.
The N25 New Ross Bypass project represents a very significant investment in the South East region, in the order of €230 million, and will generate significant benefits to the region, particularly in terms of shorter and safer journeys for road users and improved accessibility for New Ross and the wider region. “
**(Updated 11th November 2019)
DECEMBER 2019 opening likely…..
A December opening of the new River Barrow Bridge Crossing which will link the N25 with the N30 New Ross to Enniscorthy route is likely.
The 2nd temporary PILLAR removal on the stokestown side…
the barrow crossing weatherproofing is now complete.
Durable waterproofing systems for concrete has been added by the men & women who have dedicated their time and expertise to delivering the one of the most unique bridge structures in the world to the town.
Demolition has commenced on the temporary False Pier on the Pink Rock, Kilkenny side of the Barrow.
(Updated September 2019)
Ireland’s longest bridge is back on track
Delivery of Ireland’s longest bridge which had been delayed due to an issue with one of the supporting piers for the structure has now been successfully rectified.
The council assured that “non-conformances of this nature are not untypical on a structure of this complexity”.
The problem, which was detected over the summer is thought to have been caused by voids within the pier which occurred during the high-pressure blasting of concrete during construction.
A spokesman for Wexford County Council said “there was an issue with one of the 11 pier supports at the interface where the pier meets the underside of the bridge deck”.
The spokesman said the matter was identified as part of works monitoring regime and corrective action was successfully undertaken. While remediation work did not stop main construction work from progressing, the spokesman said that fixing the issue had led to a delay of “weeks, not months”.
(Updated July 2019)
Everything you need to know about the New Ross Bypass Bridge
The New Ross bridge over the River Barrow had the final deck section completed *(July 2019) making it now officially Ireland’s longest bridge, connecting Pink Point in County Kilkenny and Stokestown in County Wexford. The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy bridge is seen as the last link in motorway chain which will forge strong connection between the nations capital into Wexford and the south-east region with travel times set to be cut 30 minutes.
One Bridge….Two Counties both hoping to make it to Croke Park next month:
Crane overview:
June latest update video:
This Extrados type bridge, at 900 meters, will be the longest bridge in Ireland and the longest bridge of this type in the world. (nearly twice the size of “Thomas Francis Meagher Bridge” River Suir in Waterford.) It is part of The N25 New Ross Bypass PPP Project which will comprise of a 14km dual carriageway road including new sections of both the N25 and N30 National Primary Routes and is being carried out by a joint venture of two market leading construction services organisations, The Royal BAM Group and ACS Group, both of whom have a long history and tradition in Ireland.
- The project dates back to the Wexford county council development plan in 1993
- Construction began in 2016
- With a budget of €250m
- 30,000 cubic meters of concrete the equivalent of 4,000 lorry loads of concrete
- 7,000 tons of reinforced steel
- Over 2 million working man hours have gone into the bridge
- Named “The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy ” Bridge
- Due to open in November 2019
*The cables in the bridge are made up of individual strands of wire, if placed together they would measure up to 500km in length, to put that into context, its nearly the length of Ireland!
Named the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge in October 2018 with a vote of 8 to 6 at a meeting of the New Ross and Piltown municipal district.
“It is a spectacular view, there’s no doubt about it especially coming down the Pink Rock Road, the bridge just reveals itself in front of you and you get an incredible panoramic view of the bridge. This is a landmark piece of global proportions.” – Project liaison officer Sean Dobbs
The bridge met in the middle in July 2019 and open officially for road users in November so we suggest you sit back, enjoy the finale and watch all the visitors this iconic bridge is set to attract to our town.
*The New Ross bypass bridge will be twice as long as the Empire State building in New York City is tall.
(Some of the accolades to date)
- Best Road Project – Silver Award Winner – N25 New Ross By-Pass, Ireland
- Winner of the European Project Bond Award
