Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge wins at 2021 Structural Awards
17 November 2021 - The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge wins the ‘Vehicle Bridges’ award at the 2021 Structural Awards. BAM Civil Ltd and Dragados Ireland Ltd are delighted to have been the Principal Contractors on this project.
Judge’s comment: ‘The 887 m long, nine-span, three-tower extradosed concrete bridge rises 36 m over the water to provide navigational clearance for access to the Port of New Ross. The structure is impressive in scale and slenderness. It holds multiple records, including the longest bridge in Ireland, the longest concrete extradosed spans in the world and, during construction, the longest balanced cantilever for concrete deck extradosed bridges in the world.
To reduce materials required, high strength concrete was used, and precast panels were introduced on the cantilevers to minimise the cross-section weight. A long service life is ensured through careful detailing and specification of materials with provision for structural health monitoring systems and maintenance.
State of the art structural analysis tools, such as explicit time dependent creep curves and step-by-step non-linear iterative analysis, were used during the complex construction. The result is a highly optimised structural design and statement piece of engineering.’