Final M20 route announcement expected by end of the summer

PROJECT TEAM ASSESSING ALL SUBMISSIONS MADE BY THE PUBLIC

A SENIOR Cork County Council official has said it is expected an announcement on the final route for the planned M20 Cork-Limerick motorway and a new rail connection between the two cities will be made before the end of the summer.

The authority’s director of roads and transportation services, Padraig Barratt, was speaking at a meeting of the council’s northern committee following the completion of the public consultation process into the multi-million Euro project.

The history of the project has already been well documented, with the need for improvements to the N20 identified in the 1998 National Roads Needs Study.

Following a 2008 study to identify a preferred route corridor for an upgraded carriage-way between Cork and Limerick, the M20 motorway scheme was progressed through planning and design phases and the scheme was submitted to An Bord Pleanála in 2010 for statutory planning approval.

An Oral Hearing was held in 2010, but prior to a determination being made by An Bord Pleanála, the project was withdrawn in 2011 due to the economic downturn.

The public consultation process commenced last November, with the public invited to give their views and feedback on a comprehensive set of revised plans for the key inter-city link route.

A number of road-based and rail-based options (see attached panel) had now been short-listed after the completion of the first phase of an appraisal process based on engineering, environmental and economic criteria, along with an active travel strategy for improved walking and cycling facilities.

The study area for the short-listed options measures approximately 21,500 hectares, with approximately 5,500 properties lying within it.

Mr Barrett said the consultation process had been undertaken based on the principles of openness, fairness and transparency with the project team using various media platforms to ensure people were aware of the process and to encourage maximum participation.

These included newspaper and radio ads, hard copy displays in public buildings, a dedicated project website, letters to the owners of affected properties as well as a virtual briefing with local public representatives.

“The public have engaged with the consultation process, as demonstrated by the 38,000 online visits to the public consultation room. In addition the project team has held 726 individual consultation meetings (online and by telephone), received 1,091 submitted feedback forms and more than 1,000 written/email submissions,” said Mr Barrett.

“The project team has also attended a number of public online meetings arranged by elected representatives providing information on the project and answering queries,” he added.

Mr Barrett said the team was currently collating and reviewing all the information submitted, which will in turn be used to inform the selection process for identifying the preferred option, which is scheduled to be announced in the summer of this year.

“The identification of the preferred option will further refine the study area and reduce significantly the number of people potentially impacted upon by the project,” said Mr Barratt.

“The project team would like to sincerely thank the public for their engagement with the consultation process in such difficult circumstances with the current pandemic,” he added.