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The selection of route options for the M20 Cork to Limerick and Northern Relief Road in Mallow will allow for further planning requests for residential and commercial properties.
Several months ago, treatment of all planning permits along a wide corridor of the proposed M20 and along a designated Mallow Bypass corridor was suspended.
Route options for the M20 will be published this Thursday.
The move has been welcomed by several councilors who said the delay in processing planning requests had stifled growth in the North Cork region.
A meeting of the Northern Division of the county council heard that nine route options for the Mallow Relief Road are currently being discussed.
These will connect the N72 / N73 in the east with the M20, somewhere near Mallow General Hospital.
Padraig Barrett, the council’s director of highways, said he expected these routes to be “reduced by distillation” by next summer, which would free up even more areas for evaluation of planning applications.
Fianna Fáil Councilor Gearoid Murphy said work on the relief road was previously proposed to begin in late 2023 or early 2024.
However, Barrett said he hoped that the preferred route would be selected next year and that they could bring it to Bord Pleanála in 2023, with construction occurring thereafter, pending approval and funding.
He said it could face legal challenges like any highway project.
“I still think it will be ready to start construction in 2025,” he added.
“It is very necessary for the future development of Mallow,” said Fianna Fáil Councilor Pat Hayes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Barrett told Fianna Fáil Councilor Bernard Moynihan that a contractor should be appointed before Christmas to carry out the construction of Kanturk Relief Road and that construction should begin in January.
Mr. Moynihan and Fine Gael Councilor John Paul O’Shea also welcomed the news from Mr. Barrett that the council hoped to present plans with Bord Pleanála before Christmas for a major security upgrade at Ballymacquirke Cross, a crossing near Kanturk that has witnessed several serious accidents. in recent years.
Barrett said he expected a decision from Bord Pleanála in the fall or winter of next year and that construction would begin in 2022. The council will have to obtain Mandatory Purchase Orders to acquire land for the project.
In the meantime, councilors will seek a delegation to the Minister of Transportation to raise funds to widen a dangerous stretch of the N73 (Mallow – Mitchelstown road) between Waterdyke and Clogher, near the town of Shanballymore.
HGV drivers recently held a protest on that section of the road because it is extremely narrow and dangerous.
Fianna Fáil Councilwoman Deirdre O’Brien said the National Secondary Highway was critical to agribusiness and the national economy as a whole.
He noted that the council had designed a ready-to-use project and that it was time to send a delegation to the minister for approval.
“If it is not funded, there will be more protests,” said independent councilman Frank Roche.
Mr Barrett said that TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) will soon announce the funds it has for road projects next year.
“My fingers are crossed that we get the go-ahead,” he added.
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