The progress currently being made in relation to getting the Cloongullane Bridge project running is a very positive sign for the future of getting a major improvement on the N26 the elected members of Ballina Municipal District were told this week.
Paul Hyland, acting senior engineer for Mayo National Roads Design Office, told the October meeting this week: "We haven't been given the approval of Transport Infrastructure Ireland [TII] to progress the entire project, but they have identified following the adoption of the preferred route, we had peer review with TII and they decided that it was important to prioritise this aspect of the upgrade of the N26 and so that is what we're delivering on. The funding to progress this historically from 2011 until now has been to the preferred route, and now the funding and development has been to Cloongullane Birdge. I need to clearly put this out there, this is the most positive statement of intent from TII in relation to the N26.
"An arm of the State can't build anything without planning [permission], the CPO and the planning process will start in about two weeks time and if it gets approval by An Bord Pleanála it sets in trail the process whereby this project will happen. It may not happen as quickly as you wish, because TII have to consider lots of other projects across the country, but if it gets approval, we will start thereafter, and there are statutory process to go through, and legislative things we have to apply to make sure things are done appropriately. All of this will happen, if it gets approval it will be built, if we don't submit it for planning it won't."
The CPO for lands for the construction of the new Cloongullane Bridge over the River Moy between Foxford and Swinford is due to be signed on Monday October 24 by Mayo County Council and the project will go on public display from November 1, with a closing date for submissions to An Bord Pleanála on December 21. If it gets through all those hoops, it is expected to take 18 months for the advanced design and acquisition stage and another 18 months to construct the project, the members of the Ballina Municipal District were told this week. The bridge and road project will see road improvements roughly 1km either side of the bridge crossing, and the whole project will be about 2km long in total.
Cllr Michael Smyth asked about potential objections to the bridge following the refusal previously of a major scheme for the N26 because of objections on environmental grounds. He was told by Pat Staunton, the project manager from the Mayo National Roads Design Office: "National Parks and Wildlife and fisheries are happy enough with the location. They have been consulted and they are happy with the fact we're proposing to clear span the river, the proposal on the old plan was to have two crossings of the Moy, that didn't clear span the river, this will clear span the river so there will be no impact on the river bed of the Moy."
