Mary Elmes Bridge is a 66m single span Pedestrian and Cyclist bridge that opened in Cork, Ireland in July 2019. In September 2016, Cork City Council launched a competition for a single span – no supports in the river were allowed- pedestrian crossing over the River Lee between the historic bridges of St. Patrick’s (a stone arch form 1860’s) and Brian Boru (a former rolling bascule from 1920).
The competition was launched as part of Cork City Councils key objective to encourage greater sustainable travel in the form of walking and cycling within the city Centre. Constrained by heavy trafficked quay roads, the design of a single span 66m crossing was a real challenge when taking into account that the flooding level for the 200years return is 400mm higher than the existing footpaths.

Read the paper of Marcos Sanchez (ARUP), Simon Roberts (Wilkinson Eyre) & Robert Ryan (ARUP)