Re-alignment works on the N72 (Mallow – Fermoy Road via Castletownroche), known locally as Carrig has been approved at today’s Area Roads Meeting of Cork County Council. With over €850,000 allocated for this project in 2011, works are to commence shortly.
Welcoming the news, Indepedent Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea, who is chairman of the Mallow/Fermoy Area Roads Committee said “Today’s announcement that the re-alignment of this section of road at Carrig is to proceed is a great boost for the local people who commute on this road on a daily basis. This section of road has been labelled as one of the ten most dangerous roads in Ireland, and I am glad the National Roads Authority (NRA) has finally agreed with the views of all members of the committee and the engineering staff at Cork County Council and proceed with the much needed improvements”.
In October 2010, Cllr. O’ Shea and other members of the Mallow/Fermoy Area Roads Committee along with senior engineering staff and the county engineer met with officials in the NRA regarding the debilitating condition of this section of road. The strong delegation travelled to Dublin with the intent on sending a clear message to the officials that restructuring works on this road was of vital importance to all involved and this was duly noted by the NRA on the day.Cork County Council also received notification of other road safety, pavement and minor improvement works to national primary and national secondary roads in the North Cork region at today’s meeting. With over €26m allocated countywide, North Cork roads will reep a significant portion of this allocation.
Some of the roads included for vital improvements include:
N73 at Annakisha, Mallow
N73 at Clogher Cross
N72 at Carrig, Mallow
N72 – Lombardstown Cross to Longueville Cross
N72 – Ballygriffin Railway Bridge to Castetownroche
N72 at Dromagh
N72 at Sandpit Junction & Bend
N72 at Forge Cross
N72 at Ballymaquirke Cross
N20 Cork to Limerick Road (Southern Section)
N20 at Castleland and Velvetstown, Buttevant
N8 Fermoy to Watergrasshill Road
N8 Mitchelstown Relief Road
N8 Mitchelstown to Fermoy Road (Mitchelstown Bypass)
Cork County Council has also received an allocation of over €2.3m countywide for maintenance of our national primary and national secondary routes throughout 2011.
Welcoming the allocations of funding, Cllr. O’ Shea said “It is important to recognise the significant level of funding North Cork has received for the development of its national primary and national secondary roads in 2011. There has been a noticable shift in the type of allocations received this year with certainly more emphasis on our national secondary roads such as the N72 and the N73. This change has come about on my and my fellow councillors recommendations that these roads be prioritised for improvement works by the NRA and have a lesser focus on the more major schemes. I believe we will be doing extremely well if we maintain and improve the infrastructure we already have in the place over the next 3-4 years as we continue in these tough economic times”.
