Lengthy delay in building of new Athlone canal bridge

It was due to take some four and a half months but now construction work on a new bridge over the canal in Athlone, to replace what is known as McQuaid's Bridge, is expected to last for up to a year.

McQuaid's Bridge links the Clonown Road with the Deerpark area of Athlone and spans the canal at the entrance to the Shannon Bank Walking Trail at the Big Meadow.

A replacement bridge is being built at the location as part of the Deerpark cell of the Athlone flood defence works.

Work commenced on the bridge in May last and was due to be completed on September 27.

However, the Office of Public Works has now confirmed that the revised date for a handover of the completed bridge to Westmeath County Council is April next.

It means that a project which was to take four and a half months has almost trebled in its timespan.

The OPW said: "The progress of these works have been delayed due to unforeseen ground conditions and higher water levels in the Shannon which have slowed down the works to some extent. Despite these issues, the works are going well and the handover of McQuaids Bridge to Westmeath County Council is now scheduled for April 2022."

The project is part of the Deerpark cell which itself is significantly behind schedule. Work began there in August 2019 and was expected last a year. It remains ongoing.

The €3m Deerpark cell is the largest part of the extensive Athlone flood defence works.

Athlone historian and writer Gearoid O'Brien has told of how in the 1940s, in response to a campaign fought largely through the letters column of The Westmeath Independent, a new bridge was built across the Athlone Canal, and though never officially named it has been affectionately known as 'Mick McQuaid’s Bridge' for the past seventy-five years.

The name arose in response to regular visits by a local man to the offices of the Westmeath Independent seeking the paper to start a campaign for the building of a bridge across the canal.

The late reporter and editor John Glennon repeatedly encouraged him to write a “Letter to the Editor”, that they would then publish. Eventually, Glennon relented, and decided to write a letter on his behalf. When trying to decide on a suitable pen name he looked down at a cluttered desk in the press-office and spotted a tin of Mick McQuaid’s tobacco.

This popular tobacco was marketed by P.J. Carroll & Co. of Dundalk.

He signed the letter “Mick McQuade” and the story started from there.

In his letters in the 1930s and 40s “Mick McQuaid” concerned himself with the state of the town and of his local area but, of course, his greatest crusade was his repeated calls for a bridge to be built across the canal at Heaton’s Mill, for the convenience of the residents in Parnell Square but also for the convenience of people coming into town from Duogue and Clonown.

The bridge was built in 1944 and has become known ever since as McQuaid's Bridge.