Liffey Pedestrian Bridge

Thanks for comments so far. It seeems that your bridge, with corrugations and very much busier than ours, may not become a play bridge. Its odd that all pedestrian railway over-bridges in England have solid sides and even anti-climb paint, but those over rivers or other roads are treated very differently. Was that practice for railway bridges continued into Eire.

You may be right – certainly, recently deliberate stone (and supermarket trolley)throwing is the reason. But UK railway bridges have always had high sides – often solid, but sometimes a 6 inch mesh of 1 inch steel strip. Perhaps it goes back to fear of smoke and noise, and crinolines not being smutted in the smoke. Some bridges had extended smoke cowls.

My worry is that remote footbridges over rivers will also be playgrounds, especialy if ramped for skateboarding. Simple wide spaced railings may not be enough to save lives.

The concave toughened glass/perspex plate which also sends the wind up seems to be the best idea in my opinion. Hard to climb, useful and not visually intrusive on long shots of the bridge.