No money in the pot for Mallow or Macroom bypass
CORK County councillors have been told that work on the N22 Macroom bypass will not commence until at least 2022 and that no funding has been set aside as yet for the proposed Mallow bypass.
That’s according to the contents of the report on a meeting held between Cork County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) presented to councillors at a meeting in County hall on Monday.
The document also showed that TII had expressed its disappointment that the proposed M20 Cork-Limerick motorway was not included on the governments €27 billion Capital investment Plan unveiled last year. This despite what they said was the need for the road “highlighted by the number of fatal accidents occurring on the existing N20.”
TII officials said that funding for both the N22 Macroom/ Ballyvourney project and the N28 Cork-Ringaskiddy road would “not ramp up until 2020 and 2021” despite them both having been included within the capital spending programme. Instead priority was being given to the works at the Dunkettle interchange.
“It is TII’s intention to appoint a contactor for Dunkettle in 2018 as this is their top priority project, with a view to commencing in 2019/2020, while the N22 and N28 will be post 2021,” read the report.
In the report TII officials advised that “any political pressures councillors could bring to “accelerate the increase in their spending budgets would be appreciated”.
Officials also pointed out that the Mallow Relief Road was listed in the capital spending programme “but not from the point of view of funding.”
They said that while a feasibility study identifying the preferred route of the bypass should be completed by the end of the year, funding for the project could be a potential obstacle as the cost would exceed €20 million.
While the report said that TII accepted there was a good business case for the bypass, it did warn its construction could have potential ramifications on the business case for the Cork-Limerick motorway “if completed in advance of the M20.”
While Charleville based Cllr Ian Doyle (FF) called for the case for the M20 to be upgraded and included on the capital spending plan, Cllr Timmy Collins (Ind) told The Corkman he felt it was more important that the Mallow relief road be given priority.
“I understand where Cllr Doyle is coming from, given the traffic problems in Charleville. However, the traffic congestion in Mallow is an absolute disaster. As a former haulier I know lorries coming from Rosslare can be stuck for ages trying to get through the town,” he said.
Cllr Collins, who has been a vocal advocate for the Mallow relief road, reiterated his call for Transport Minister Shane Ross to visit Cork and see the situation for himself.
“Dublin based Ministers have no idea what is happening in rural areas such as North Cork. If the Transport Minister were to see just how bad the situation was in Mallow it might help our case considerably,” he said.
Macroom based Cllr Gobnait Moynihan (FF) was also scathing of the government, accusing them of “tricking the public into thinking they had any interest constructing the Macroom bypass.”
“It’s all very good the putting it on the Program but what’s the point if there’s no funding made available until the end of it? This has clearly highlighted how little the government cares about not just Macroom but the county of Cork which is relying on this bypass to boost tourism,” she said.