Rehabilitation works close footbridges for summer

THE footbridges at St Dominic’s/Tallaght Village and the Basketball Arena at Tymon North will be closed for the majority of the summer for rehabilitation works.

The footbridge between St Dominic’s and Tallaght Village that traverses the N81 will be closed for a period of 11 weeks, until Wednesday, September 14.

The footbridge at the National Basketball Arena in Tymon North will be closed for a period of eight weeks until Friday, August 19.

Both bridges are now closed, and will remain closed 24 hours a day for the duration of the works.

Diversion routes for both footbridge closures are being provided by South Dublin County Council and Kildare County Council, who are carrying out the rehabilitation of the bridges.

Pedestrians and cyclists planning to go southbound using the St Dominic’s footbridge are advised to head north along the R819 Greenhills Road to the junction with Main Street.

Here, they are advised to turn left and continue westwards along Main Street to the junction with R113 Old Bawn Road.

Then they must turn left and head south along the R113, crossing the N81 where they can turn left and follow the black path trail adjacent to the Whitestown Stream where the diversion ends.

Northbound pedestrians and cyclists are advised to head westwards and follow the black path trail adjacent to the Whitestown Stream, where they will join the R113 Old Bawn Road.

They can then turn right and cross the N81 and continue on the R113 to its junction with Main Street, where they can turn right and continue on Main Street for approximately 310m to the junction with the R819 Greenhills Road.

Here, they can turn right onto the R819 and travel south towards St Dominic’s footbridge, where the diversion ends.

For pedestrians and cyclists planning to use the Basketball Arena footbridge, a diversion is being provided through several underpasses carrying the M50/N81 junction.

Footbridge users are advised to exit Tymon Park onto the R137 Tallaght Road and travel westwards along the footpath, through the underpasses carrying the M50/N81 junction.

They can then cross over the other footbridge over the M50, and through two further underpasses carrying the M50/N81 junction to Tymon Lane.

At Tymon Lane, they can turn right and travel for approximately 115 metres, at which point they re-enter Tymon Park where the diversion ends.

In the case of both footbridge closures, the councils have “strongly advised” pedestrians and cyclists to use the diversion routes as identified and only use permanent/temporary pedestrian crossings as provided along the diversion routes.

Cyclists are advised to dismount over the extents of the diversion routes.

The closure of the St Dominic’s footbridge will not affect vehicular traffic on the N81, and the closure of the Basketball Arena footbridge won’t affect vehicular traffic on the M50.