Busy city tunnel to close at night

ONE of the country’s busiest tunnels and link roads, between the north and south of Cork city, is to close every night for up to six months for work to bring it into line with new EU fire regulations.

Fri, 24 Jun, 2011 - 01:00

Sean O’Riordan

The National Roads Authority (NRA) confirmed last night that the multimillion-euro project at the Jack Lynch Tunnel will close it completely for 11 hours each weekday night from October until March 2012.

The Dublin Port Tunnel is compliant with the regulations, but the busy Cork tunnel, which was opened in May 1999, is not.

NRA spokesman Sean O’Neill said that the “fire protection upgrade” would necessitate both the tunnel’s bores being closed every weekday night. Work could proceed more quickly if the tunnel was closed all day, but the NRA and gardaí are aware this would lead to major gridlock in the city.

Tunnel manager Dan O’Neill said that in excess of 65,000 vehicles pass through it on an average weekday.

However, he said that between 8pm and 7am just 8,000 vehicles used the tunnel, so closing it then would cause much less disruption.

The NRA said the closures would apply on Mondays to Fridays and the tunnel would remain open throughout the weekend.

“The closures will be modified if there are any major events etc which have to be catered for,” Mr O’Neill said. He added that talks are ongoing between the roads authority, gardaí, the two local authorities and the fire brigade to co-ordinate the operation.

The work will involve putting up special flame retardant cladding to protect the tunnel structure if a major fire breaks out.

Meanwhile, the contract for two long-awaited flyovers on the city’s South Ring Road was signed yesterday. The flyovers, at the Bandon Road and Sarsfield’s Road roundabouts, will cost €100 million.

It is expected that construction will start before the end of the summer and take about two years to complete. Engineers believe that the flyovers, including the one already built at the Kinsale Road junction, could cut motorists’ peak-time journeys by up to 30 minutes.