Harry Blaney Bridge awarded
The Harry Blaney Bridge was awarded the Best Civil Engineering Project at the Zurich Local Authority Members Association awards at a ceremony in Dublin at the weekend. 01/02/10The Harry Blaney Bridge was nominated for the award by Donegal County Council and fought off competition from Ballina Town Council (The River Moy Footbridge) and Meath County Council (The Kells Victorian Waterworks Restoration Project).
The Harry Blaney Bridge, which links Rosguill and Fanad, was nominated in two categories at the Awards. Welcoming the news, Donegal North East Fianna Fáil TD and son of the Bridge’s namesake Harry Blaney, Niall Blaney, congratulated the engineering firm that designed the Bridge – BAM Ltd.
“I want to congratulate everyone from BAM involved in the design and construction of the Bridge. It is quite an honour that the project my father initiated in 1986 has been recognised as the Best Civil Engineering Project in the country,” Deputy Blaney said.
“I have worked hard to continue the project since I was elected in 2002 and I was successful in securing more than €20 million in Government funding for the Bridge. History was made with its construction with the linking of the Rosguill and Fanad peninsulas.”
“The multi-span bridge measures more than 340 metres and it cuts a 30 mile trip to just a couple of miles.”
“It marked the final element of a three-pronged plan which has become known as the Peninsula Hopping Project. The first element of the plan was the Greencastle-Magilligan car ferry and the second element was the Rathmullen to Buncrana car ferry.”
“It was my fathers hope that the three peninsula links would help to open up the North West to tourism, from the Antrim Coast right along to Donegal. The Bridge has been open to traffic since last May.”
“To achieve recognition of this calibre on a national stage is a tribute to the dedication of the team involved in the bridges design and construction and I would like to congratulate everyone who was involved at all stages of its construction including staff from Donegal County Council under the supervision of Hugh Fox and Kilmacrennan engineer William Diver who worked with BAM.
“The construction of the Bridge was another step in the realisation of a long-term vision for North Donegal,” concluded Niall Blaney TD.
