An impromptu journey to Ireland this weekend for a family get-together has meant I have been lucky enough to explore some nice places in the North and Republic. We are gathering for a birthday in the family, but the journey across the country gave us a good opportunity to make some stops and get some nice photos of some interesting spots along the way!
We landed in Derry, Northern Ireland and despite the rainy / overcast weather we managed to catch some brief sunny spells to get a few snaps of Derry city. Most notably, we came across Peace Bridge crossing the River Foyle which tickled my interests both as politically and from an engineering perspective. The bridge is intended to link between a largely unionist area and largely nationalist area - hence the name. From an engineering perspective, the outward spanning suspension towers allow for the curved deck of the bridge and goes to show that it is no small feat of combined engineering and architecture.
(Image: The self anchored suspension bridge was designed, perhaps unsurprisingly, by the same team who created the millennium bridge in London. This design appears to be somewhat more successful as it hasn't had to be closed and retrofitted with dampers to counter the effects of harmonic motion... Yet!)
(Image: The Craigavon Bridge is another new bridge which was built to cross the river Foyle in Derry. Not the most photogenic bridge in the world, but I thought the sign was interesting.)
(Image: The Peace Bridge is open to cyclists and pedestrians and links the City Centre to Ebrington Square across the river.)
(Image: The support you see here is what we call a "roller support system" in structural engineering. It provides a vertical support for the bridge while also allowing for slight movement due to thermal expansion / contraction or other movement effects due to vibration or wind.)
We have made a few other stops on our journey across, but internet is spare so I will be posting sparingly as and when I can! Stay tuned!
Cheers!
A.