From Walls to Walkways: Why Belfast Needs More Bridges…

Belfast has a long and complicated history of building walls.

So it feels quietly refreshing to see the city beginning at long last to talk about bridges.

Just before Christmas, some news that may have slipped under the radar was announced: Belfast City Council appointed a design team to progress plans for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge linking Sailortown with the Titanic Quarter.

It doesn’t arrive with much fanfare, but few infrastructure ideas in Belfast feel as straightforward or overdue.

The Sailortown Bridge: an obvious missing connection in the city

The proposed Sailortown-Titanic Quarter bridge would do something deceptively simple: connect York Street Train Station directly to the heart of the Titanic Quarter.

Today, that walk takes around 30 minutes, looping through roads and junctions that were never designed with pedestrians in mind. The bridge would reduce the journey to around 10 minutes – suddenly making the train a genuinely realistic option for daily commuting.

Crucially, the Sailortown bridge is expected to be moveable, allowing boats to pass – similar to Puente de la Mujer in Buenos Aires. This ensures that maritime activity is not compromised, safeguarding events such as the Belfast Maritime Festival.

This bridge is not being proposed in isolation.

On the east bank, Loft Lines is delivering high-density waterfront housing that is anticipated to be largely car-free, designed around walking and cycling.

On the north bank, the Clarendon Wharf masterplan proposes hundreds of new homes, restored heritage assets and new public spaces. Nearby, the “Under the Bridges” project aims to transform space beneath the M3 flyover into an urban sports and recreation park – reclaiming some of the city’s most hostile leftover spaces for community use.

Add in neighbourhood staples such as The American Bar and Seatons, and the picture becomes clear: Sailortown is no longer just somewhere to pass through. It is a neighbourhood being actively invested in.

The bridge is the missing piece that allows all of this to join up.

It is also worth noting that the project has previously been identified as suitable for Irish Government support under the Shared Island framework.

If one bridge makes sense, are there others the city still needs?

If Belfast is serious about becoming a more connected, liveable city, the Sailortown bridge should be seen as a starting point rather than a one-off.

1. Loughside Park and Giant’s Park: connecting North Belfast

The biggest barrier between North Belfast and Giant’s Park is not distance, but the M2 motorway.

A bridge at Loughside Park, combined with a rail halt and an upgraded leisure centre, could turn that barrier into a point of connection. The leisure facility itself could take inspiration from the spectator stand at Avoniel Leisure Centre, where facility space is integrated beneath elevated seating. At Loughside, this could overlook the newly redeveloped Crusaders FC 3G pitch, allowing sport, events and everyday community use to coexist on a single site.

There is also a powerful visual and symbolic dimension. A bridge here would create a clear line of sight from Cave Hill and Belfast Castle, across the motorway, straight through to Giant’s Park – connecting landmarks that feel close geographically, but distant in practice.

The site itself once housed the Shore Road tram depot, a reminder that this part of the city was once better connected than it is today.

Concerns have already been raised about Giant’s Park’s accessibility, with the M2 motorway cutting communities off from one of the city’s largest regeneration sites.

2. The Gasworks Bridge and Ormeau Embankment: finishing what we started

Plans for a pedestrian and cycle bridge linking the Gasworks to the Ormeau Embankment have been discussed for decades. It now appears that this long-promised project may finally be approaching delivery.

This bridge would fill a critical gap, providing a safe and direct walking and cycling route from South Belfast into the city centre, tying into the Lagan greenway and proposed protected cycle lanes along the Ravenhill Road.

But there is an opportunity to be more ambitious.

Until the 1920s, Ormeau Park stretched all the way to the river before space was handed over to vehicle traffic. Cities across Europe are now reversing those decisions. Paris, for example, permanently reclaimed sections of its riverfront, returning that space to people.

If Belfast is feeling bold, could the Ormeau Embankment be reclaimed as public space too?
Under the Linen Quarter BID’s vision, the Gasworks Bridge would then become the final piece of a genuinely compelling idea: a linear park running from Ravenhill Road, through the Gasworks and city centre, all the way to the new Grand Central Station.

3. A cycling bridge alongside the Albert Bridge

The Albert Bridge is a blender.

Traffic lanes converge, bendy buses squeeze through, and cyclists are funnelled towards it by advisory lanes and green paint – only to be dropped into one of the most intimidating junctions in the city.

A parallel, cycling bridge would remove the conflict entirely. Instead of asking cyclists to negotiate buses and fast-moving traffic, it would offer a calm, direct route into Lanyon Place Station and the Lagan Towpath via Mays Meadow.

As a small but thoughtful addition, the bridge could incorporate nesting boxes to support Belfast’s returning starling population, whose murmurations have become a rare and welcome sight along the Lagan.

4. A Botanic Gardens footbridge: everyday connections that matter

This is very much a “nice to have”.

A pedestrian and cycle bridge at Botanic Gardens would link the Gardens, the Ulster Museum and Queen’s University Belfast with the Lower Ormeau, making everyday journeys shorter and improving access to Botanic Train Station.

5. Adelaide Halt and “Windsor Way”: designing for arrival

Finally, Adelaide Rail Halt shows how bridges are sometimes about dignity as much as distance.

The halt is only wheelchair accessible on the Lisburn Road side. Anyone alighting on the Boucher Road platform would be stranded.

That alone should prompt action.

Add in the wider context. Adelaide Halt sits beside Windsor Park, which will host matches during the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup. On match days, the surrounding streets routinely grind to a halt.

A new pedestrian bridge, combined with placemaking, could create “Windsor Way” – a green, welcoming route linking Adelaide Halt, Windsor Park and The Village community.

With a new leisure complex approved nearby and the Blackstaff Greenway progressing, the building blocks are already there. What’s missing is the connection.

6. And if we are being greedy, a sixth bridge

Back in 2011, Belfast Harbour proposed a City Quays Bridge, linking City Quays with the SSE Arena and the wider Titanic Quarter. It never made it off the page, but the idea never really died.

The bridge reappears in Belfast City Council’s Sailortown, Greater Clarendon and City Quays Masterplan, published in November 2025, positioned as a near neighbour to the proposed Sailortown Bridge.

The same masterplan also includes provision for a rail halt at Corporation Street – which inevitably prompts the question of whether this is, in effect, a future Cathedral Quarter station.

A city learning to build bridges

For a city shaped by division, it is striking how many of Belfast’s challenges come down to simple questions of connection.

The Sailortown Bridge is a strong place to start – not because it is flashy, but because it is obvious and useful.

We have spent long enough building walls.

It is time we became much better at building bridges.