Portumna bridge lies east of the town of

Portumna Portumna (- meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a Portumna bridge, bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where ...

, in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is a five-span road bridge, which carries the N65 across the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

to Lehinch in

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

. The present bridge was designed by C. E. Stanier of London, and completed in 1911, with a central section resting on Hayes's Island which divides the river into two channels. The structure of the main bridge, consisting of steel girders supported by concrete filled cast iron cylinders, and the pivoting

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

over the navigation channel, are of technical and engineering interest. The house on Hayes Island, accessed from the bridge, was the bridge operator's house and pre-dates the present bridge. The opening section was replaced in October 2008.

Navigation

Situated about 1 mile to the north of where the River Shannon enters Lough Derg, Portumna Bridge must be opened to allow craft with more than 4 ft of

air draft Air draft (or air draught) is the vertical distance from the surface of the water to the highest point on a vessel. This is similar to the '' deep draft'' of a vessel which is measured from the surface of the water to the deepest part of the h ...

to pass by. The bridge is opened only at fixed times. There are

quay A wharf ( or wharfs), quay ( , also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more Berth (mo ...

s both north and south of the bridge where craft may tie up while they wait for the bridge to open and there are mid-stream pontoons both upstream and downstream of the bridge.

References

{{coord, 53.0911, -8.1940, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Bridges in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Galway Buildings and structures in County Tipperary Bridges completed in 1911 Swing bridges River Shannon 1911 establishments in Ireland