Deadline fast approaching for motorway objectors

OBJECTORS have until close of business on Monday to lodge submissions with An Bord Pleanála in relation to the construction of a €600 million motorway linking Cork and Limerick.

It is likely the planning appeals board will later this summer hold an oral hearing into the proposed 80km highway.

The land required will be procured through Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs).

Cork County Council, in conjunction with the National Roads Authority (NRA), plans to build the motorway in two phases.

Cork county engineer Noel O’Keeffe said the project involved constructing a motorway from the Blarney Business Park to Croom, which would include a bypass at Adare and the construction of the Mallow northern relief road.

“The first phase of the project would be from the Blarney Business Park to north of Buttevant,” Mr O’Keeffe said.

If everything went to plan at the oral hearing, and if funding was put in place, construction of phase one could start as early as 2012.

When the project was initially costed a few years ago, it was estimated funding would set the Government back €800m.

However, Mr O’Keeffe said falling prices had meant it could be done for around €600m.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project is available at council area offices in Cork and Limerick.

Details of the scheme are also available on Cork County Council’s National Roads Office website www.corkrdo.ie

Mr O’Keeffe said the motorway would be built under a Public Private Partnership as part of the Government’s plans for the Atlantic Corridor, which is part of Transport 21.

The new motorway will connect to a new highway, which will run northwards to Letterkenny in Co Donegal.