Village to oppose plans for motorway ‘monstrosity’

A VILLAGE intends to fight plans to build one of the country’s longest sections of elevated motorway just yards from its quiet main street.

Ballyhea residents in north Cork have hired an expert to fight their case at an oral hearing on the planned 80km motorway between Cork and Limerick.

The estimated €1 billion M20 project, one of the longest and most expensive motorways planned in the country, features:

* 80km of dual divided motorway;

* 6km of dual carriageway;

* 45km of associated national, regional and local roads;

* 46 road bridges, eight river bridges and two railway bridges.

However, the people of Ballyhea, on the border between Cork and Limerick, are objecting to plans to build a 530-metre long elevated section of the motorway just a few hundred metres west of their village.

It will be built on stilts in an area prone to flooding from the nearby Awbeg River and will be up to 11 metres high in places. It is the biggest structure on the proposed motorway.

Ian Ronan, secretary of the Ballyhea Community Council Road Action Group, said the elevated section is unnecessary because alternative routes are available. “This monstrosity of a structure will destroy our little village forever more,” he said.

“Our village is currently segregated by the railway line on the east of the village and the N20 which runs through the centre of our village and now it is proposed to have the M20 motorway on the west side ofthe village. This, effectively, will split our community entirely.

“We, as a community, are not against the motorway. What we are completely against is a structure that will seriously affect the amenities and quality of life.”

He said alternative routes exist but his group has been unable to find out whether detailed cost/benefit analysis have been conducted on these alternatives.

“Surely an alternative route around our parish should have been examined in greater detail, given the destruction it will cause to our parish,” he said.

The group has written to Environment Minister John Gormley pointing out the fact it is proposed to build the elevated section on a flood plain.

“We have all seen the devastation caused by construction on flood plains in the recent past,” he said.

The Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the project is due to get under way at the Charleville Park Hotel on July 7.

The people of Buttevant plan to present a case for the construction of a slip road to link their town to the proposed M20.

Under the current NRA plan, access to Buttevant would be at slip roads either at Mallow or Charleville, which are both just over 11km from the town.