Clare County Council has welcomed the announcement by An Bord Pleanala of its decision to approve the Killaloe Bypass, Shannon Bridge Crossing and R494 Improvement Scheme. The estimated cost of the project is Eur40 million. The scheme will lead to a reduction in traffic volumes through Killaloe/Ballina resulting in improvements to the local environment.
The project involves a 2 kilometres single carriageway bypass of Killaloe, a 170 meter bridge crossing of the River Shannon, and an upgrade of approximately 3.3 kilometres of the existing R494 regional road in Ballina, in the townlands of Ballyvally, Knockyclovaun, Creeveroe, Shantraud, Killestry and Moys, County Clare; and Roolagh, Kilmaglasderry, Garrynatineel, Lackenavea (Egremont), Knockadromin, Coolnadornory and Gortybrigane, County Tipperary.
The next stage of the process will be to appoint consultants whose role it will be to deal with further detailed design requirements, the tendering of the scheme and all subsequent stages through to the final construction. Clare Council will also be pursuing acquisition of the lands to which the CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) applies in due course.
Mayor of Clare Cllr. Pat Daly says: “This is a significant project for the East Clare area and is one that I fully support in terms of the economic and social benefits it will bring to the people who live, work in and visit the area. This Scheme will be one of the biggest infrastructure projects to be undertaken in the Region during the next decade.”
Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer, Clare County Council and Project Manager comments: “This project will deliver improved connectivity between the wider East Clare area and the national motorway network. It will erase the traffic bottleneck that has developed in Killaloe/Ballina over the years as well as eliminate the present dependency on the existing substandard Shannon River crossing at Killaloe in terms of its lack of capacity to handle current traffic demands. The Project will facilitate the Killaloe/Ballina, East Clare and North Tipperary areas in its endeavours to develop further both commercially and from an industrial point of view. The Scheme will also ensure that the Region including Lough Derg becomes much more accessible and marketable as a tourism destination.”