A PROPOSED bypass of Castleisland, Co Kerry, is to become the only new national road scheme to go to construction this year under a reduced €1.44 billion annual budget for the National Roads Authority (NRA).
Announcing the allocation yesterday, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said the authority’s emphasis for 2009 would be on continuing 17 major projects, among them the inter-urban motorways between Dublin and the cities of Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.
He said the 17 projects have a combined length of just under 500km, and were being constructed at a cost of €5 billion, funded on a multi-annual basis.
At €1.44 billion for 2009, the roads authority allocation is about €240 million less than that of 2008.
Mr Dempsey confirmed the proposed Leinster outer orbital motorway and the Eastern Bypass of Dublin would not now be considered by the Government until 2011 at the earliest.
He also said a number of schemes which the NRA initially hoped to progress to construction this year were being rescheduled.
These include:
- the N5 bypass of Longford;
- the N25 Carrigtwohill to Midleton road in Co Cork;
- the N18 Gort to Oranmore in Co Galway;
- the reconstruction of Newlands Cross on the N7 in south Dublin;
- the upgrade of the N11 south of Ashford, Co Wicklow.
However, the Minister said the level of investment in the current economic climate represented the State’s determination to “maintain investment in our key transport networks” and ensure the major inter-urban routes were completed by 2010.
Of the ongoing work, eight schemes on the major routes are due to open to traffic this year.
They are the N4 Leixlip to M50 junction; the N6 Athlone to Ballinasloe; the N7 Nenagh to Limerick; the N8 Fermoy to Mitchelstown; the N9 Waterford to Knocktopher; the N9 Kilcullen to Carlow; the N51 Navan inner relief road; and the N25 Waterford City bypass.
While Mr Dempsey welcomed continuing work on the N18 between Crusheen, Co Clare, and Gort, Co Galway, he said the Gort to Oranmore section had been amalgamated with a Galway to Tuam PPP (public-private partnership) project, which would not begin this year. He said reduced tender prices of between 15 and 20 per cent and earlier completions in recent years had resulted in the money being found to fund the start of the Castleisland bypass this year.
Credit for the scheduling of the bypass was also claimed by Kerry Independent TD Jackie Healy-Rae, who said he had lobbied the Tánaiste and Mr Dempsey on the subject.
NRA chief executive Fred Barry said a further package of public-private partnership roads amounting to about €1 billion was being put together to advance a number of schemes, including the Tuam to Gort section, and the Gorey bypass to New Ross link in Co Wexford.
None of the new PPP roads would be charging tolls.
However, Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd said the reduced budget was “lunacy” as construction cost was “at its cheapest for years”.
He said the Government should be “ramping up labour-intensive road-building projects” as an incentive to the economy.
“Noel Dempsey should be doubling the National Roads Programme for 2009. Yet the Minister has confirmed that this year’s roads budget has been slashed by €240 million. This is utter folly.”
