Over 60 names were proposed, but today at a special council meeting of Galway City Council, councillors officially named the new walking and cycling bridge over the River Corrib as ‘Droichead a Dóchais’, the Bridge of Hope.
The bridge, which was opened in May 2023 and had the working title ‘Salmon Weir Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge’, was the first bridge over the river in more than 30 years.
The public’s proposed names for the new bridge included abstract names such as the Bridge of Dreams; other suggestions were linked geographically, including the Corrib Jail Bridge and College Walk; and there were also individuals, including Maurice Semple, Nora Barnacle, and Julia Morrissey.
A spokesperson for the council said that the council today approved the recommendation of the Civic Naming Committee in relation to the new name for the pedestrian and cycle bridge and that a formal naming ceremony will take place in the coming weeks.
The provision of the bridge was much welcomed but the council has recently come in for some criticism for the lack of safe crossing links to the bridge.
A local newspaper journalist, Dara Bradley, said access to the new city bridge is “a deathtrap on foot and bikes”. In his column in February, Bradley said: “As Galway City Council remains preoccupied with finding a name for it, the citizens of the city are just trying to get to and from it without being killed.”
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