Waterford joint venture contractors, Ascon and Dragados, are making rapid progress on the construction of the €530 million Waterford Bypass PPP project and are expected to achieve completion ahead of the August, 2010 deadline. The centre-piece of this project is the record-breaking 465m cable-stayed bridge being constructed across the river Suir, 2km west of Waterford city. Designed to carry two lanes of traffic in each direction, the river crossing will be Ireland's longest and tallest cable-stayed bridge; it will have a 230m uninterrupted span across the river, two back spans of 91.5m and 66.5m and end spans of 35m and 42m (Figure 1, page 628). The river span will be the longest constructed in the Republic of Ireland, and will join Kilkenny on the north side to Waterford on the south side of the river. The total height of the dramatic inverted Y pylon, from the base of the pile cap to the top of the beacon, will be 118m. The bridge will be supported by steel cables radiating out in a fan shaped arrangement from a single pylon situated on the south side of the river.
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