The Craigavon Bridge is one of three bridges in Derry, Northern Ireland. It crosses the River Foyle further south than the Foyle Bridge and Peace Bridge. It is one of only a few double-decker road bridges in Europe. It was named after Lord Craigavon, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The present bridge was designed by the City Architect, Matthew A Robinson. Construction began in the late 1920s and was finished in 1933. The lower deck of the bridge originally carried a railway line for freight wagons, but that was replaced by a road in 1968. At each end, a silhouetted mural of a railway station stands to mark the former railway. On 3 July 1968, as part of a series of protests against housing conditions in Derry, the Derry Housing Action Committee held a sit-down protest on the newly opened second deck of the Craigavon Bridge. A pair of bronze statues forming a sculpture entitled Hands Across the Divide are situated at the west end of Craigavon Bridge in Carlisle Square and were produced by Derry sculptor Maurice Harron.
Refurbishment
Between October 1999 and August 2000, the Roads Service of the Department for Regional Development, in Phase I of a refurbishment project, concentrated on the renovation of the upper deck of the bridge, to prolong its service life and to provide increased safety. That included repairs to the concrete and steelwork, re-waterproofing the deck to protect the steelwork from corrosion, and resurfacing both the carriageway and footways. Later phases II and III concentrated on the refurbishment of the lower deck and the painting of the bridge. The total cost of refurbishing Craigavon Bridge was £4·2 million.
History
Craigavon Bridge is one of three bridges to be built in the area. The first bridge over the River Foyle was a wooden one, assembled in the United States and transported to Derry. It was built from 1789–1791, and sited between Bridge Street and Fountain Hill, about 90 metres north of the present bridge. The structure included a drawbridge because the inhabitants of Strabane had navigational rights on the river. In 1863, the steel Carlisle Bridge was erected, a little further upstream, almost where Craigavon Bridge is today, to replace the old wooden bridge.
