The bridges of Ireland - current practice

摘要

Since the 1980s a large number of new bridges have been built in Ireland as part of the construction programme to develop the country's transport infrastructure. This process received a boost with the founding in 1993 of the National Roads Authority (NRA); the government body with responsibility for developing and maintaining the National Primary and National Secondary road network (5429 km long, roughly evenly divided between Primary and Secondary). The NRA provides the centralised planning and funding for national road schemes and is also the technical approval authority in matters of national standards and specifications. It is anticipated that the founding in 2002 of the Railway Procurement Agency will provide a similar boost to the railway network.