9th Feb 2020
On the 30th January, the New Ross Bypass opened to traffic, including the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge, which crosses the Barrow. This bridge, being 887m in length, is the longest bridge in Ireland.
The bridge is an extradosed bridge, which is a type of cable stayed bridge comprising of tensioned cables connecting pylons to the bridge deck. It is the longest bridge of its type in the world.
I went down to New Ross on the day it was opened to traffic. I went to the Glenmore Roundabout, where the bypass ties into the existing N25 on the Waterford side, to film a segment of a video I was making for upload onto YouTube. I was hoping to make the video while the contractor was doing the final snags to get the road ready, but they decided to open it to traffic just as I had set up my equipment for that segment. Not unexpectedly, it took several takes of this segment before I got one I felt happy with for the final edit.
At least, I was among the first to drive across the bridge. I actually drove over it a few times, to get a few in-car shots driving over it with the GoPro.
That evening, I went back onto the bypass for some night photography, specifically light trails images of traffic over the bridge. I picked two locations – I reckoned that was all I was going to get during the blue hour. One of the images was inspired by a picture I saw on display in the window of one of the shops, taken during one of the charity walks the weekend before.
There was initially one walk organised for over the bridge, on Sunday 26th January, for members of the public to get to see the bridge up close before it is opened to traffic. However, there was overwhelming demand, and tickets sold out within a few hours of going on sale. It was decided to organise a second walk, for Saturday, the 25th. Again, it sold out within about an hour of tickets going on sale. I missed out on a ticket for the Sunday walk but I managed to get one for the Saturday walk.
Going back to the light trails, as I would normally do over roadways and the like, I took several pictures, trying different camera settings, striking a balance with regard to shutter speed, long enough so that I end up with red and while lines along the whole visible part of the roadway, and at the same time, not so long as to end up with the traffic coming towards me being overexposed.
Finally, when it got totally dark, I got a few pictures of the bridge from the Pink Rock, a road along the banks of the Barrow on the Kilkenny side, before going into New Ross to record the final segment of the video.