Kelly’s Ford Bridge was a 20m single-span half-through modified Warren Truss bridge. 

The bridge crosses the Derreen River, on the L20131, 3km west of Hackettstown, Co. Carlow. The carriageway over the structure was at its greatest 3.00m wide.

The bridge structure was in very poor condition, a structural investigation  revealed extensive damage to all steel surfaces and the concrete deck and significant damage to the rivets of the steel trusses, in particular to the transverse bottom chords supporting the concrete deck

The extent of damage noted to the structure, the associated costs to carry out the required strengthening and remedial works to the existing structure and future maintenance costs lead to the decision to replace the deck with a modern precast prestressed concrete bridge beams and aluminium parapets to NRA and Eurocode standards.