Councillors defer proposed transfer of road project funds

A decision has been deferred on the proposed transfer of €500,000 from the Killaloe bypass project to kick-start the long awaited Northern Relief Road in South-East Clare.

Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald tabled a motion on behalf of Michael Begley, who was absent at a recent Killaloe Electoral Area meeting.
Councillor Begley asked in his motion whether or not all of the €500,000 could be spent on the next phase of the Killaloe bypass project and, if not, could a large portion of unspent funds be transferred to the Northern Relief Road, which is also a strategic road project.
The independent councillor told The Clare Champion he supported the Killaloe bypass project but understood the allocation of €500,000 wouldn’t be enough to allow this ring road to go to the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) stage.
He proposed that it would be better to move most of this allocation to the Northern Relief Road to get it started and additional money could be sought to continue progressing the Killaloe bypass and to complete the CPO stage.
Although no definite line has been approved for the Northern Relief Road, an indicative route has been identified from Coonagh to the roundabout at Plassey near the University of Limerick.
Senior roads engineer, Tom Tiernan told councillors that the Environmental Impact Assessment, the preliminary design and the CPO document preparation were completed recently in relation to the Killaloe bypass, Shannon River Crossing and upgrade of the Ballina to Birdhill Road and require the approval of the Department of Transport before any further stages of the project could be progressed.
“Even if the department were to confirm approval to go to CPO in the very near future, it is most unlikely that such a process will be completed before the end of 2010 and so it is most unlikely that the project will have the capacity to absorb expenditure of any significance this year,” Mr Tiernan said.
“Some relatively minor issues do need to be finalised, such as the completion of a cost benefit analysis. In the circumstances, no more than 10% of the €500,000 allocated can be spent on the Killaloe Project this year.
“There are no proposals to return any of this allocation to the department. Given that there is another significant project in the county, which needs to move forward into the planning stage, Limerick Northern Distributor Road, it is proposed that the approval of the department be sought to transfer 90% of the Killaloe allocation to this alternative.
“The strategic importance of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road has been highlighted in recent times by the recent confirmation by the University of Limerick regarding its plans for substantial campus development in County Clare,” he said.
Mr Tiernan requested that local councillors would confirm their support in relation to this approach.
However, councillors decided to postpone a decision on this proposal pending further consideration.