BRIDGE HAS BECOME TOURIST ATTRACTION
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge will attract thousands of people to the area over the coming months with tourist attractions and New Ross businesses set to benefit.
This is the view of Hook Lighthouse manager Lorraine Waters who said: ‘It’s going to be brilliant across the peninsula. There are two elements to it. If people want to come down here they know they aren’t going to be stuck in New Ross.
‘In the past they might stay in New Ross when they hit traffic. Once they go over the bridge they are already on their way here to us. Because of the bridge they would have to turn off at the exit and double back go to the Dunbrody. It’s a straight drive to us and they say to themselves “I’ll be there in 20 minutes”.’
She said the bridge is an iconic structure. ‘It’s new. It’s shiny. It’s different. People are going out on the bridge at Glenmore and driving all the way to Corcoran’s Cross and coming back to bring the kids all the way around the bypass. It’s a new attraction; it’s nearly its own attraction.’
She said New Ross town will benefit from the bridge.
‘I am no longer stuck in traffic when I go into New Ross. I am getting my parking. I’m not waiting 20 minutes anymore to try to pull in somewhere. When you were stuck outside Aldi you’d lose time in traffic and now I can go into O’Brien’s and get my coffee with time to spare. It’s a fluid movement. You are not getting stuck in traffic or charged on the ferry.’
She said the signposting for the Hook Peninsula means drivers know exactly how to get to the lighthouse.
Ms Waters said many visitors to the lighthouse from Waterford, especially, have commented on the time they have saved in taking the bridge.
‘People are coming to view the bridge and they come down to us. People are coming down in their droves to go wave watching. We’ve been putting up vibrant photos and videos and they are just loving it. Many who come to wave watch from Waterford and Tipperary have used the new road and others haven’t but all of them are coming.’
New Ross district director Eamonn Hore said the bridge has become a tourist attraction, pointing out that Irish Independent journalist Enda McEvoy reported after the Wexford Kilkenny hurling match about how a friend of his had taken the scenic route to the match as he had heard so much about it and ended up late to the game.
‘People like it and it’s just another thing attracting visitors to the area. There is a lot of optimism about the bridge.’
He said there are no Transport Infrastructure Ireland figures available yet for how many people have driven across the bridge in any given day, adding that there were huge volumes of sightseers over the first three weeks, with many people stopping to view the bridge at the lay-by areas.