Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway set to get Cabinet green light

Cabinet is due to consider the main M28 contract just days after the Department of Transport confirmed the allocation of some €50m to advance the scheme.

The Cabinet is set to approve the construction of the M28 Cork-Ringaskiddy motorway, marking the start of a milestone week for strategic transport projects in the city.

Transport minister Darragh O’Brien is expected to bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday recommending sign-off of the main contract for the long-awaited M28, which secured planning in 2018.

And next Monday, the new through-platform at Kent train station will open to facilitate a high-frequency commuter rail service from Mallow, direct through the city to Midleton or Cobh.

Later the same day, the long-awaited route of the proposed Cork light rail or Cork Luas service will be unveiled for consultation.

Cabinet is due to consider the main M28 contract just days after the Department of Transport confirmed the allocation of some €50m to advance the scheme this year as part of the national roads grant allocations.

Cabinet approval to appoint a main contractor should be followed within weeks by the formal signing of contracts, finally clearing the way for construction to start on the 10km stretch of motorway between the Bloomfield interchange and Ringaskiddy village.

The contract provides for the road to be built within 36 months from the date of the contract award. 

Extensive advance works have already been completed, with work on the shorter eastern end already under way as part of a separate contract.

The planning application for the M28 was lodged to An Bord Pleanála in May 2017, which approved it with modifications in June 2018. The decision was cleared of any legal challenges in March 2021.

Two contracts

The near 12km route is being delivered in two separate contracts — one for a 1.5km stretch of single carriageway from Barnahely, near the Port of Cork, to Ringaskiddy village, and the other for the main 10km dual carriageway stretch from Bloomfield to Ringaskiddy village.

Sorensens began work last October on the shorter eastern section, which is due for completion in early 2026. Cork County Council said earlier this year that it has “identified the most economically advantageous tender” to build the main 10km stretch.

However, just before Christmas, the Department of Transport raised last-minute questions about the project’s final business case, resulting in the slight delay in coming to Cabinet.

Carrigaline-based Fianna Fáil TD Seamus McGrath said a construction start date is now in sight. He said: 

The M28 is a critical project for the Cork region and in particular for the Harbour area, serving the industrial base of Ringaskiddy, the Port of Cork as well as large residential population areas.

“With the recent €50m allocation to the project as well as some supplementary funding, I look forward to it proceeding to the main construction work in early summer.”

Next Monday, meanwhile, Irish Rail is set to unveil the newly-constructed through-platform at Kent Station which will allow a free-flow commuter rail service to run from Mallow to Midleton or Cobh, without the need to switch trains or platforms.

Later that morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to unveil the emerging preferred route for the €1bn Cork Luas project — the 17km light rail service that will run from Ballincollig, through the city centre to Mahon.

A suggested route alignment in the CMATS strategy showed how the route might run from Ballincollig, via CIT, UCC, CUH, St Patrick’s St, and on to Kent Station over a new bridge into the south docklands and on to Mahon Point.

However, a dispute between agencies over whether the route should turn left at the junction of Washington St and Grand Parade, to run along St Patrick’s St, delayed the route selection process.

The system will be designed to carry 46m passengers per year, with journey times of 27 minutes from Ballincollig to the city centre.