The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Work to begin this spring to complete Dingle relief road
WORK is expected to begin this spring on the final section of the Dingle Relief Road, following the announcement this week that funding of €1.8 million has been allocated to the long-running project which aims to ease summertime traffic congestion in the centre of Dingle.
Most of the relief road - running from the Mail Road to the Spa Road – is already built and in use but work on the final section has been delayed for several years because of a lack of funding following the country’s economic downfall.
This week, however, Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin and his Fine Gael colleague Cllr Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald announced that money has now been secured under the National Capital Plan for work on the final phase of the relief road, which will also include cycle lanes. This section of the project will run from beside Nellie Fred’s pub on the Spa Road to a short distance above the Holy Stone on Goat Street.
Design work is completed and the land needed for the road has already been bought from up to nine separate owners along the route. Cosaí told The Kerryman on Monday that the work, which will be undertaken by the County Council, could start in April and the job should be finished by early next year.
Cosaí added that the €1.8 million funding will not be enough to complete the road, which he expects to cost up to €2.5 million. However, he was confident that, given the government commitment to the project demonstrated by the current allocation of funds, there won’t be a problem securing the money needed to finish the job.
Aside from alleviating tourist season congestion by allowing traffic to bypass the town, the new road will help fill the need for additional parking spaces, which has become a serious issue locally.
The new road will also open the area between the back of Main Street and Chapel Lane for future housing development. Planning permission has already been granted, pending the completion of the relief road, for an additional 50 houses at the partially developed estate off Chapel Lane and a separate landowner has planning permission for 12 houses on another site. Cosaí said he reckons about 100 houses could eventually be built along the road after it is opened.
As things stand, there is no provision for either pedestrian or traffic access between the relief road and Main Street but the council hopes that this will be possible in the future, if agreements can be reached with the relevant landowners.