Booming Midleton will 'stagnate' without better infrastructure, say locals as road upgrade stalls 

Midleton, Co Cork was on the cusp of a major boom, until the upgrade of its main road was axed. The fall-out will be serious in many ways, writes Sean O’Riordan

Traffic on the N25 near one of the houses affected. The N25 upgrade was identified as a crucial infrastructure project more than 20 years ago. Picture: Dan Linehan

The mothballed upgrade of the one of the busiest roads in the country could seriously stagnate housing and business growth in a town for years, flies in the face of government plans for strategic development outside of Dublin, and could lead to increased accidents, according to local campaigners.

There was major shock when Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) was not funded for the upgrade of a section of the N25 between Carrigtwohill and Midleton.