Ryland, in his "The History, Topography and Antiquities of the County and City of Waterford" (1824) writes "It is surprising that so so considerable and so ancient a city as Waterford should not have had a bridge over the River Suir until 1794: for although it has been conjectured, from the discovery, a few years since, of some fragments of piles and framed timber, that the Danes had a bridge over the river at this place, we are without any record of the fact. [It is likely that the timber fragments were the remains of temporary bridges which were, history relates, of military necessity on at least two occasions earlier.] In former times it was considered a vast attempt to erect a bridge over a river of such depth and breadth as the river of Waterford; we may, therefore, conclude, from these and other circumstances that no attempt was made before that which has so fortunately succeeded."

     It was not surprising, then, that correcting this deficiency came to be described as "a matter of urgent local necessity and of more than provincial importance."

    Although there was no bridge across the Suir until 1793 there was, of course, a ferry service and this had begun in ancient times. The building of the bridge was undertaken in 1793 by a company (incorporated by act of parliament) which subscribed £30,000 to complete the work, including the purchase of the ferry-rights. The money was raised by loans of £100 each, the interest of which was to be paid by the tolls of the bridge. The bridge was constructed of American oak by Lemuel Cox, a native of Boston and was of a tressel type; the bottom of the river was levelled and the tressels were placed securely on the riverbed. The bridge was 832 feet long with a carriageway of 26 feet and two footpaths, both 7 feet wide. The oak legs were approximately 13 inches square with deck planks 2½ inches thick. Initially there was no opening span but a single leaf drawbridge, 28 feet wide, was added in 1795. Some 60 years later the opening section was increased to 40 feet. The bridge was affectionately nick-named Timbertoes by the citizens. Cox advised the proprietors of the bridge to case the piers with stone but his advice was not followed. Two tablets, affixed to the centre piers, give an account of the manner in which the foundation was laid, the date of the erection and the materials of which it was composed. The inscriptions were as follows:—

ROBERT HUNT, ESQ.          

    Long before the purchase, however,  the need for a new bridge was, engaging the public attention. This attention was now spurred to activity. The relative merit of steel and reinforced concrete as the material for the new structure was debated at length, until the Privy Council ordered that the bridge be constructed of ferroconcrete on the Hennebique system. The firm employed to do the work was Mssrs. Kinnear, Moodie and Co. of Glasgow and the contributing local authorities were:

    As the site of the new bridge corresponded exactly with that of the old, the erection of a temporary bridge of timber-pile construction, immediately beside the old one on the upstream side, was necessary. The temporary bridge was commenced in November 1910 and was completed in March 1911. Less than two years later the new bridge was opened by John Redmond, M.P., on February 10, 1913 and was named the John Redmond Bridge. The length of the new bridge (less than that of the old due to extensions) was 700 feet and it measured 48 feet between the parapets. It had an 80 feet opening span operated on the Cantilever Schertzer system. The all-in cost was £71,000.

Surprisingly, Redmond Bridge did not last as long as old Timbertoes and, in 1981, the Corporation declared that a replacement bridge was urgently needed as Redmond Bridge had deteriorated badly and had become dangerous. The contract provided for the construction of a four lane highway bridge in two stages; first, two traffic lanes immediately adjacent to and upstream of the Redmond Bridge prior to its demolition, followed by the remaining two lanes on the site of the demolished bridge. Work on the replacement bridge commenced in August 1982 and the first phase was opened to traffic on 22nd October 1984. The second phase was completed in Spring 1986. 

    The main contractor was Irishenco Ltd., of Dublin whose tender of £7.9 million was accepted in 1982. The Consulting Engineers were Rendel, Palmer & Tritton of London.

    The basic construction is as follows:

    (a) Foundations: Tubular steel piles, 711mm diameter, driven to rock.

    (b) Superstructure: Precast, prestressed, concrete beams, spanning 24 metres between pilecaps. These beams were manufactured in Banagher, Co. Offaly by Banagher Concrete Ltd. reinforced concrete deck, cast in-situ over beams and surfaced with 50mm of rolled asphalt.

    (c) Opening Span: This is 40 metres long, giving a clear waterway of 25 metres. The combined weight of the opening span plus counterweight is 310 tons. The sub-contractor for this work was Hollandia-Kloos of Rotterdam. The entire opening span was manufactured in Rotterdam and transported to Waterford by barge and was lifted into position by a 400 ton capacity floating crane.

    The overall length of the new bridge is 204 metres and the total width is 19.26 metres.

    The bridge was opened, officially, on 22md October, 1984 by Mr. Liam Kavanagh T. D. in the presence of the mayor of Waterford councillor William Kenneally and the Aldermen and Councillors of Waterford Corporation and was named the Brother Edmund Ignatius Rice Bridge.