Galway County Council has installed a pedestrian bridge in the Connemara village of Leenane to replace the bridge swept away by flooding.
However, a temporary bridge suitable for vehicular traffic through Leenane will take several weeks to construct.
The century-old stone-arch structure over the Lahill river at the mouth of Killary fjord collapsed shortly before 5pm on Wednesday due to a combination of heavy rainfall and a landslide upstream.
No one was on the bridge at the time.
Minister for Rural Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív said finances would be made available for a new bridge.
The village, well known as the set location for the 1989 film version of John B Keane's The Field, has experienced a similar collapse before.
Mountain floods and high tides damaged the road between Westport and Killary, now the N59, in 1828 and brought down what was then known as the Leenaun bridge.