Date set for work to begin on ‘country’s worst main street’

It’s been branded Ireland’s worst main street but, from October next, it will be transformed into one of the finest town thoroughfares.

For years, the people of Buttevant in north Cork had to put up with an undulating main street and exceptionally neglected footpaths — so much so, that many residents ended up in casualty with injuries.

They became so angry, last year, hundreds of locals marched in protest causing major tailbacks on the main Cork-Limerick road.

But hope is on the horizon after the National Roads Authority announced it expected to have a contractor on site by October.

NRA senior engineer Tony Mullane said €2m had been set aside to upgrade the entire streetscape. He expected the project would be completed within nine to 12 months.

“Everybody agrees it needs an upgrade. There are 10,000 vehicles passing through the town every day, of which eight per- cent are HGVs,” he said.

An extensive environmental impact study was carried out in advance of the work as the town is important from a heritage and cultural viewpoint.

It is one of the country’s medieval walled towns and, because of this, said Mr Mullane, the NRA recognised the need for an archaeologist to be onboard to supervise the works because of the likelihood of encountering historical artifacts.

The works envisaged include the replacing of the main road and footpaths, upgrading of drainage and public lighting and the undergrounding of a number of overhead cables on a 1.5km section between the 50km/hr speed limits on the northern and southern sides of the town.

Mr Mullane said a number of consultations about the proposals had already taken place between engineers and members of the local community council.

It had been originally intended to cut the number of parking spaces in the town from 112 to 58. However, following representations from the community council and businesses, in particular, it was decided to reduce the number of spaces to 100.

Council officials say they expect the street enhancement works will help stimulate economic growth in the town.

The County Development Plan is targeting a population increase in Buttevant and the council says it recognises the need to make it an attractive place to live and work.

Nigel Doherty, owns the Centra supermarket on Buttevant’s main street, said that while he welcomed news of the streetscape upgrading, he had some concerns.

Mr Doherty said the council had previously spent two years working on upgrading the town’s sewerage scheme, causing serious disruption which had damaged his and other businesses in the town.

“We would hope that kind of disruption can be avoided this time,” he said.

He said he wanted the project speeded up and suggested a lot of the work should be done at night. Community council spokesman Noel Cullen said talks with the county council had been very productive and he was hoping the whole operation would run smoothly.