Long-awaited Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway moves a step closer 

Supporters of the motorway say the project will ignite new economic and industrial life in the region by unlocking a major IDA landbank in the area and supporting the Port of Cork's move downriver to Ringaskiddy. Picture: Port of Cork Company

The long-awaited Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway has moved a step closer with Cork City Council sounding out market interest in the €250m M28 project which is set to go out to tender within the next 12 months.

One of the biggest infrastructure plans in recent Cork history cleared its final legal hurdle earlier this year, after the option to petition the Supreme Court was declined.

However, the plans come against the backdrop of major uncertainty for road infrastructure projects across the country, with Transport Infrastructure Ireland recently warning of “significant and systemic threats” to their delivery.

The proposals will see 10.9km of dual carriage motorway constructed from the N40 Bloomfield Interchange to Barnahely, 1.5km of single carriageway from Barnahely to the eastern side of Ringaskiddy and a service area at the Port of Cork facility at Ringaskiddy.

A legal challenge had been brought by residents to Bord Pleanála’s green light for the planned 14km M28 motorway but the High Court last November refused residents of  Douglas, Maryborough Hill, and Rochestown, known as the M28 Steering Group, leave to bring the case to the Court of Appeal.

Noise, traffic, pollution, and environmental damage were some of the concerns raised by residents who opposed the plans as they had been set out.

Supporters of the motorway say the project will ignite new economic and industrial life in the region by unlocking a major IDA landbank in the area and supporting the Port of Cork's move downriver to Ringaskiddy.

As part of its market-sounding exercise, Cork City Council is seeking views on the current inflationary pressures and how that could impact the project, as well as the supply of plant, labour and materials.

At a recent Oireachtas Committee hearing, Transport Infrastructure Ireland said that inflation is having a huge impact on the delivery of major projects and that the structure of contracts with the State means that contractors adopt more risk than in similar projects in other countries.

TII CEO Peter Walsh told the committee that where some projects would have nine contractors bidding at the tender process in 2017, that can be two or three now.

He also said that the M28 project should be in a position to start construction in 2024 or earlier.

Tom Parlon, director general of the Construction Industry Federation, told the same committee that unless the process is reformed it “will have major implications for the delivery of construction projects for the foreseeable future”. He said with the current inflation “you’re going to get less bang for your buck”, and that projects would inevitably cost more.

Both TII and CIF called for the reform of how contracts are usually awarded for major projects.

Ahead of the project delivery, Cork City Council is also seeking views on the possibility of constructing the scheme in two or three smaller contracts, rather than in one larger award.

It is also seeking views on the appropriate form of contract that might be used to build the scheme.