A LACK of funding is being blamed for several important N71 road projects being put on hold, including a notorious section between Newmills and Owenahincha, which has been the scene of a number of road collisions and fatalities.
Plans for a €1.6m retarring project on the N71 from Ballylickey to Dromkeal are also being mothballed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), due to a lack of funding from the Department of Transport.
Plans to appoint advisers to progress the design for the completion of the Bandon bypass are also being paused. Cllr Noel O’Donovan (FG) told The Southern Star that it was very ‘disappointing and frustrating’ to see the projects paused.
‘We are seeing devastation on our roads nationwide, and the TII needs to play their part in road safety by ensuring roads see significant upgrades for safety and to cater for the increased traffic on the N71,’ said Cllr O’Donovan. ‘These are projects that have been in the planning stage for years and had gotten approval for works. To see them being halted is extremely frustrating. Landowners have been consulted with and it appeared as if works were progressing,’ he added.
Cllr O’Donovan said the Newmillls project was in phase two of a seven-phase cycle and that €100,000 was allocated by TII in February to appoint technical advisors to begin the ‘options selections and appraisal’ phase. ‘A tendering process had been completed and had identified advisors. However, the promised funding has now been paused,’ he added.
Local TD Michael Collins has called on the government and, in particular, the Minister for Transport to release their ‘vice-like grip’ on the funding required for the N71 projects. ‘The longer the improvement works are delayed, the greater the risk of increased damage to the roads, which in turn actively increases the likelihood of accidents and loss of life,’ said Deputy Collins.
‘If you were to give someone 20 years to create an anti-roads transport policy and funding model, they would fail to come up with one more inept than the one being imposed on us by the current regime in Leinster House,’ he added. Deputy Collins said he is ‘sick and tired’ of the Bandon bypass project being treated as the poor relation of regional roads infrastructure projects.
A TII spokesperson said that that they cannot allocate funding to progress projects until funding is available.
‘TII has made a request for additional funding to the Department of Transport.’
The Department of Transport blamed inflation and costs, like materials, coming in above budget, in a response to a query from The Southern Star. ‘A number of new road projects are facing funding pressures in 2024 due to reasons including an increased pace of delivery and land acquisition costs, as well as inflation and increased cost of materials which are higher than when the original estimates were calculated,’ it said, adding that some plans will now be pushed out to 2025 ‘or as soon as possible thereafter’.
