Blunder on flyover supports could cost €50,000 to fix

The National Roads Authority has admitted it got it wrong when it gave the go-ahead for flawed flyover supports along the N20 between Cork and Limerick which could cost up to €50,000 to rectify.

The authority was notified by motorists who had safety concerns.

The complainants said the support clearings — which look like wide footpaths and provide support to bridges and prevent water erosion — are causing a hazard.

The NRA confirmed the structures were too wide and a process was under way to have them scaled back. Twenty of the clearing platforms had been earmarked for the N20 and eight of them were implemented — all with the design flaw.

The cost to rectify them will be between €20,000 and €50,000.

“There’s a set design standard on these structural bridge clearings. Unfortunately, the section of the road in question is narrower than the national standard road and it has virtually no hard shoulder. It was a failing on our part,” said NRA spokesman Sean O’Neill.

“Commonsense should have dictated that you shouldn’t put it up but, you also have a requirement to maintain support for the structure [bridge].

“Once we were informed we said to the contractor: ‘Whoa, stop.’ They said fine, and we have put cones around the structure to warn motorists.”

Mr O’Neill said the fault lay entirely at the hands of the NRA and that the contractor was only “fulfilling the standard design”.

He added the clearings “come too close to the road and too near the yellow line [hard shoulder] but, because cones were now erected, he said there was no safety issue”.

“The N20 is an old road. If you drive off of it, you’re going to hit these things. These platforms come out too close to the road and too near the yellow line but they have all been coned off. There’s a visual element now to show motorists there is a hazard notice up ahead of them.

“It is being rectified as we speak,” said Mr O’Neill.