… writes T.S. Eliot, in The Waste Land.
On the Liffey, however, Samuel Beckett connects Sir John Rogerson’s Quay with North Wall Quay.
Like his mentor, James Joyce, Beckett now has a Dublin bridge named after him:
The Samuel Beckett Bridge, at 120 metres long and 48 metres high, will link Sir John Rogerson’s Quay on the south side of the river Liffey with Guild Street and North Wall Quay on the north side.
Dublin’s newest bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and will be his second bridge in the capital. The James Joyce Bridge, near Heuston Station, opened in 2003.
The new bridge, costing about €60 million, will be capable of rotating through an angle of 90 degrees to facilitate maritime traffic.
It has four traffic lanes, cycle tracks and footpaths.
It arrived on a barge into Dublin Port on Monday morning having charted its way from Rotterdam, across the English Channel and Irish Sea in a week-long journey.
It was constructed for Dublin City Council by an Irish/Dutch joint venture consortium Graham-Hollandia.
The design evokes the image of the Irish harp lying on its side…
What would Beckett say?
“Bridge to nowhere.”
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They put up a bridge for Sam Beckett
And his characters came out to check it.
Vlad and Estragon waited.
And waited and waited.
Then Lucky and Pozzo both wrecked it.
May 15th, 2009 at 5:44AM
The Ferryman pub on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay has a superb carvery lunch, and the Quality Hotel (yes, it’s what we would call a Quality Inn in the US) is one of the most reasonable places to stay within a short walk of downtown Dublin.