A joint venture of Farrans Construction and Victor Buyck Steel Construction (FBV JV) has signed the construction contract and is preparing to move on to site.

The new design is for a three-span cable-stayed bridge with an A-frame pylon rising to 115m.

A design with curved 'bull horns' as towers had originally won a competition in 2005 but was eventually abandoned as too expensive.

FVB JV will be supported Buro Happold Engineering and Roughan & O’Donovan.

The overall budget is US$179 million.