The bridge that must legally wobble
“Daly’s Bridge”, in Cork, Ireland, is better known as the Shakey Bridge. Because it shakes. But what happens when a bridge like that has to be repaired and refurbished? • Thanks to Cllr McCarthy: his site is http://corkheritage.ie/ !
Edited by Dave Stevenson http://davestevenson.co.uk
A thorough study of how the Bridge shakes: http://publish.ucc.ie/boolean/pdf/2015/00/32-ODonnell-2015-00-en.pdf [PDF]
I did try (a lot!) to get an interview with someone from RPS Group, who were in charge of the refurbishment, but I just wasn’t able to make contact. However, I’m indebted to Michael Minehane, principal engineer, whose talk to Engineers Ireland gives a lot of in-depth information about the bridge was refurbished! You can watch it here, along with Cllr McCarthy’s history of the bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52poh2ZfSA
Thanks to Youssuf Radwan for the suggestion!
I’m at https://tomscott.com
on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tomscott
on Facebook at https://facebook.com/tomscott
and on Instagram as tomscottgo
Pull down the description for my sources on this video: if you’d like to know more, there’s an hour-long panel talk discussing the bridge’s history and refurbishment from Engineers Ireland!
@Vanta Blue because it’s a heritage, so it needs to be legally same as it was before. Which is shaking
An hour-long presentation about the structure of a bridge? What is this, Christmas?
Alum Chine bridge in Bournemouth is bouncy as well, and it’s a couple of decades older than the one in Cork.
is it legally a requirement for the bridge to wobble and be unsafe?
@Spike Lawrence what are you talking about??? It’s hardly the other way that could be interpreted, common sense should take care of that, if it doesn’t…. Well then, I’m sorry for your struggles as they must be numerous.
(That last part is just a joke, no offense to you)
I love the idea of a bridge catalogue. I need one in my life
@MLeoDaalder Why, yes. Yes, they did.
The Bridges of Madison County… Thank me Later 😀
I looked at the bridge and thought I’ve seen one like that before. Now I know it was bought from a catalogue, maybe I have.
@vexingcosmos as if there wasn’t an answer (or two) by each of us to that one already 😉
Millau Viaduct and the Hohenzollern in Cologne are mine respectively
@Phil Vanderlaan think I typed that one on an actual keyboard on the computer, so I was safe from autocorrect shenanigans haha
I’m having flashbacks to the radio episode of TechDif where Gary talked about the Americans unpacking London Bridge at Arizona and Tom mused on the existence of an IKEA flatpack bridge and here we are with an actual bridge bought from an actual catalogue and delivered in cardboard boxes!
President Richard Nixon’s childhood home was bought by his father as a mail-order kit from the Sears Roebuck catalogue.
That’s also how they do the construction of an IKEA building.
Good show!
@Sophie Robinson That is right. I watched something on that. Kind of funny, actually.
I visited the London Bridge just a few weeks ago, in Lake Havasu City. Generally pleasant, nice day.
The joy I felt seeing some adult jumping like a child in the middle of the bridge exactly when the guest was speaking about people having fun doing just that, good stuff.
Best use of a red circle I’ve seen yet
thats just cork for you
That person was having a fun day in the city, and now it’s been immortalized in the background of a video.
Tom’s timing is always impeccable.
i live in cork and this is all anyone does on the bridge
As a person who lives and grew up in Cork, I went to this park all of the time as a kid. It’s really nice to see coverage of the much beloved shakey bridge when all we ever get tourism for is the Blarney Kissing Stone. Shakey bridge is honestly way more fun and genuine to the Cork experience. Thank you Tom 🙂
How aren’t you afraid when you’re on it though? I once walked along a shakey bridge and all I could think of was “please don’t make me fall down”. Granted, the shake was more sideways, the up and down shake was less pronounced, but still…I barely made it and then I took another route to the same destination to avoid the shakey bridge
I only lived in Cork for a few years, but I share your thoughts on this – it’s great to see a piece of Cork that most of the world would never know about otherwise highlighted 🙂
@Conor Mac Carthy thats not very nice dublin has lots of cool stuff
I didn’t know what this was so thought I might save someone else a google search. The Blarney Stone is a block of Carboniferous limestone built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, Blarney, about 8 kilometres from Cork, Ireland. According to legend, kissing the stone endows the kisser with the gift of the gab.
@Pepperoni Pia aswell as the knackers who spend their days there O_O
Kinda wholesome that the local residents got a say in the preservation of the bridge. A lot of them must’ve spent their childhoods boppin’ up and down it. 🙂
Absolutely did! And still do!
I live in cork (Kinsale for anyone who’s wondering) and I’ve been on this bridge many times, it’s very fun
Not just children. It is very close to the University so many of us jumped on it as children and as college students, especially after nights out. It was great to see it restored so faithfully.
Spent their childhoods boppin’ up and down it? I know a few who continued that practice throughout their adulthood, especially after a few jars of the Murphys.
It wouldn’t be the shakey bridge of a didn’t shake. As somebody who lives in Cork and regularly walks on this bridge I can tell you that it’s not as shaky as it used to be, to be expected with new suspension cables. And almost didn’t reopen because the company behind restoring got into financial difficulty I believe so the opening of the bridge was delayed for quite a while during the pandemic. But it was a good day in Cork when it was finally opened again. It’s an icon of the city.
Love to see people “testing” the bridge as the interview goes
They won’t be testing it, they know it shakes. They’ll be doing it for the fun of it
As a Cork person, I can say that yes, the bridge is shakey. Also Cork has a butter museum.
@Michiel Werring you would need to go to Portugal for that. They dont grow cork trees in Ireland.
@Michiel Werring No, the cork museum is in the Algarve in Portugal and I have visited it. Cork trees do not grow in Ireland. The city of Cork, Ireland is so called because it is built on a marsh (Corcach in Irish). As a Corkonian, I regularly visited Fitzgerald’s Park as a child and jumped up and down on the Shakey Bridge. The Park does contain the Cork Public Museum, which focuses on the history of the city. I’m delighted the Shakey Bridge has been properly restored and kudos to Tom for featuring it!
@Michiel Werring No, the cork museum is actually in Catalonia.
@MargoMB19 For a while, Cork was hugely important to the global butter trade, this is why the museum exists, although, to my shame, I actually haven’t visited.
And I’ll guess that it’s much butter than the British Museum that houses stolen treasures from the Empire
Haha, the circle around the guy jumping on the bridge got me!
Though, to be fair, if I lived nearby to it, I’d probably do the same thing every time I cross it.
@Finbarr Ryan There should be a sign next to the bridge that says: “Patrons from ages 3 to 103 are hereby permitted to jump on this span.”
@Gojira_breathes_ no encourage them. if they are jumping they can’t or at least it’s very hard to drink. I mean before and after sure but during the jump.
@Finbarr Ryan There’s no reason for adulthood to be the absence of fun. Bounce on, Ryan…
@Finbarr Ryan “Ryan! Please stop jumping on the bridge, you aren’t a kid anymore!”
Ryan: “I must…keep…bouncing…”
Everytime I’m near the bridge or Fitzgeralds Park which is adjoining. I must jump on the bridge. I’m married. 2 kids. 39 years old. 😁
If you took the shake out of the Shaky Bridge you’d just have a bridge. I’m glad you gave this coverage, Tom, it’s a rare example of Cork City Council doing something completely right. It’s 5 minutes from University College Cork as well so generations of students have made the pilgrimage to come and bounce on it – myself included!
If you took the shake out of it you wouldn’t have a bridge at all.