End in sight for Buttevant roadworks

Repair work is nearly complete on the “worst” street surface in Ireland, in Buttevant town. And motorists using the main Cork-Limerick road will soon not have the frustration of waiting in long queues at roadworks.

A senior county council engineer spoke yesterday of “light at the end of the tunnel” for Buttevant, in Co Cork. Numerous cars have been damaged in recent years by its undulating street surface.

Tom Stritch, the council’s director of roads, told a northern division meeting that the major roadworks, on the N20, south of Mallow, were ahead of schedule.

He said roadworks in Buttevant, which started a year ago, were almost complete. However, the contractor, Priory Construction Ltd, will move off site for the annual Cahirmee Horse Fair (July 12) and return to finish in early August.

Mr Stritch said work on upgrading the N20, south of Mallow, was being undertaken by contractor, Egis Lagan, and was also ahead of schedule, near the Burnfort junction. Those works should be complete by the end of August.

Mr Stritch said consultants were being appointed to conduct a feasibility study into the northern bypass of Mallow, and should start work in later summer.

Funding of €100,000 was set aside by the last government to engage consultants. Many councillors were annoyed yesterday, as they had believed claims by recent Dail candidates that funding for the project was in place.

Cllr Tim Collins, northern division chairman, said gridlock in Mallow was a disgrace and it was patently obvious the bypass was essential. He secured unanimous support from colleagues when he proposed that the local authority write to Transport Minister Shane Ross, inviting him to come to Mallow and see the traffic chaos at first-hand.

Cllr Ian Doyle said he was recently part of a council delegation that met with senior TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) officials and discussed the bypass.

Cllr Doyle said the officials had said that they were equally frustrated, as they did not have the money to do a number of badly-needed projects around the country.

Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) said: “This is hugely important. The sooner we can secure the capital for this project the better.”

Cllr Daniel Fitzgerald said that for Mallow to attain its full potential, it needed a bypass.

“Bridge St and the town park junctions are very dangerous. It’s frightening the amount of near-misses at them on a near-daily basis,” he said.

Cllr Frank O’Flynn said Dairygold was putting huge investment into the Mallow plant, which would significantly increase HGV traffic in the town.

“We were told, before, that the money was in place for the bypass, so where is it?” he asked.

Cllr Doyle noted that the N20, just south of Charleville, was “in an appalling condition”, as was the state of the road running through the town.

“TII have agreed to look at it in the coming days, but, again, it’s dependent on the government making funding available.” He said the town was also a bottleneck and the only solution was to reactivate plans for the mothballed, €800m Cork-Limerick motorway (M20).