M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy road won't be delivered until 2028 at earliest

Cork Chamber welcomes next step towards eventual construction of road, but said it 'remains frustrated by the overall timelines

Traffic at the N40 Bloomfield West. The M28 would see 10.9km of dual-carriage motorway constructed from the N40 Bloomfield Interchange to Barnahely. File picture.

The long-awaited M28 Cork to Ringaskiddy road project won’t be delivered until 2028 at the earliest, new documents show.

Cork County Council this week went out to tender on the main contract for the important road, which is expected to cost between €250m and €500m, according to a Government update on the country’s major infrastructure project pipeline last year.

While Cork Chamber has welcomed the next step towards its eventual construction, it said it “remains frustrated by the overall timelines”.

The M28 would 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.

The road corridor itself is part of the Trans European Transport Network, accessing the Tier 1 Port at Ringaskiddy, which requires the port to be served by a high-quality road.

The Government says the existing single-carriageway N28 already faces a large volume of passenger and freight traffic, and faces “significant capacity constraints”.

The proposed road was subject to a legal challenge brought by residents against the approval granted by An Bord Pleanála. In November 2020, the High Court 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.

While this bid to block the proposed road failed, it has taken some time to progress to works beginning, with Cork County Council last year undertaking a “market sounding exercise” to analyse how inflationary pressures could impact the project, as well as on the supply of plant, labour, and materials.

In the new tender documents issued by the county council, it says that work is now anticipated to begin on the M28 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

It is also anticipated that the contractor will be in place for 40 months, meaning a date in early 2028 will be the earliest the major road will be completed.

Late last year, it emerged that delays in progressing the M28 were hampering expansion plans for the Port of Cork and would delay the departure of the port company from the Tivoli docks, which is planned to be redeveloped to accommodate 3,000 residential, office, and retail units.

Cork Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said: “A likely completion date out to late 2028 at the earliest will result in many key interlinked projects being further delayed.

“The Port of Cork plans to move from the city centre, the advancement of city centre infrastructure, public transport, and accommodation development are all dependent on the M28 being completed. We continue to encourage that every opportunity to shorten the current timelines be considered.” 

In 2023, Cork County Council was allocated €60.4m to progress various new road projects, including €19m towards the M28.