The multi-million euro new bridge linking Achill Island and the mainland is finally back fully operational again. The news was given to the members of the Belmullet Electoral Area Committee this week. Senior engineer for Mayo County Council Michael Monaghan gave the news to the four members of the committee and it was warmly welcomed. Mongan told the meeting: “I’ve been briefing you on this issue since the start of the year at each meeting since there was a systems failure, but that has been fully fixed and upgraded, and from next week on the bridge will be fully operational again.”
Achill based councillor Mícheál McNamara welcomed the news and asked how long it would take the bridge to open and close so people would know and not get stuck waiting to cross it. Mr Mongan told him it would take five minutes for the bridge to open fully and another five for it to be fully closed, and going on a time frame of about five minutes for a boat to make it through the whole process should take around 15 minutes. Mongan also told the meeting that regular openings and closings of the bridge was recommended for the maintenance of the bridge and it would have to be done at least once a month, but if it has to be opened for a boat that would cover the need to open it.
