The plan for a bridge across the Liffey at Dublin's Docklands has been described as an "outrageous proposal" which would generate more traffic and pollution on both sides of the river.
At a Bord Pleanala inquiry into the plan, Mr Seanie Lamb, a community representative on the council of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, said the proposed bridge would lead to a 25 per cent increase in air pollution in the area.
In his view, it was "preposterous to suggest that the solution to Dublin's traffic problems is to poison our children" for the sake of reducing traffic levels in O'Connell Street and upgrading it for the benefit of tourists and city-centre businesses.
Ms Betty Watson, a life-long resident of Macken Street, called for a health study of the effects of the new bridge, citing a report by a local doctor, Dr Niall O Cleirigh, saying it could lead to increased levels of bronchitis and road accidents involving children.
Another resident, Mr John Fitzsimons, said communities on both sides of the Liffey faced severance because the bridge would be open to car commuters. The option of restricting it to public transport use had not been considered, he complained. Mr John Devlin, another local resident, described the plan as "yet another road-based solution to a problem that can only be solved by public transport". Mr David Healy, representing the North Docklands Communities, said it was clear from Dublin Corporation's environmental impact statement that most of the motorists using the bridge would be "induced traffic" rather than traffic diverting from O'Connell Street.
Cllr Ciaran Cuffe (Green Party) said "throwing more road space at the problem" was premature when only a fraction of the public transport improvements promised by the Dublin Transportation Initiative [in 1994] had been delivered.
The proposed bridge linking Macken Street with Guild Street would "simply channel more cars into the area" and increase levels of respiratory illnesses, he said.
Mr Seamus Mac Gearailt, of consulting engineers Roughan O'Donovan, said the bridge would aid redevelopment of Docklands by providing a crossing point on the 1.5-km stretch of river between the Matt Talbot and East Link bridges.
He told the presiding inspector, Mr Des Johnston, that the bridge - a dramatic cable-stayed structure with a 120m span - had been designed to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists as well as public transport and would have only two lanes for other traffic.
Dr Santiago Calatrava, the internationally renowned bridge designer, said bridges had "the power to generate cities", so it was important that they were designed as landmarks rather than merely functional objects such as highway engineers produced in the 1960s.
In designing the Macken Street bridge, he had tried to make it as transparent as possible while at the same time providing for it to swing open to permit navigation upriver. His inspiration in this case was the Irish harp on the obverse of coins here.
Responding to Mr Niall Mulcahy of the Docklands Authority, which would favour a direct link between Macken Street and Guild Street at a skewed angle to the river, Dr Calatrava said this would increase the span of the bridge by 20 per cent and the materials by 40 per cent.
He emphasised his belief that the most sensible way to cross a river was perpendicular to its quays. This was not only the shortest route, but it also acknowledged that the quays would always be more important than any of the adjoining streets.
