N22 - Macroom to Ballyvourney (Macroom Bypass) [open to traffic]

It wasn't straight forward refusal. The Inspector recommended go ahead for full HQDC bypass of Macroom but to stop it west of the town. Inspector recommended refusal of section from Macroom to Kerry (bypassing Ballyvourney and Ballymakeera) citing decrease in traffic volumes (i.e. could HQDC be justified after Macroom) as well as concerns regarding visual amenity of the route as proposed.

The Board (IMHO correctly) decided that the full route should go ahead. The Board's report strongly counters arguments made by the Inspector. A Macroom Bypass on its own would leave one of the most treachorous and narrow sections of national primary road intact through Ballyvourney, while average speeds are increased on the approach from the east. For those that know the road, imagine coming off a HQDC around Macroom (prob travelling at 120km/hr a la Ballincollig Bypass??) and returning to the twisting ribbon of road that follows! Even if a reduced upgrade was to follow after the bypass section, the inherent problems with that are already on display where the Ballincollig bypass terminates at the west. The Board identified the importance of the route between Cork and Tralee/Killarney. The National Spatial Strategy has some merit in trying to plan the future development of the country. Ensuring consistent high quality links between Gateways and hubs should be the focus of the limited capital spend on new roads. To suggest a fantastic new bypass for Macroom but to leave the adjoining stretch fit for donkeys and carts, as it is, would by typical Irish short-sightedness. The country will one day be out of recession. The new road has to cater for the capacity of decades and possibly generations to come. The public transport option of rail (indirectly via Mallow) will also never compete.

I don't think the road is being bulldozed through. On the contrary, the upgrade for one of the least safe roads in Ireland has been the subject of prolonged public scrutiny since 2001 (Constraints Report published) through the County Council, An Bord Pleanala and judicial review. The route has already been shifted to cater for the Kerry Slug. In most other countries, a primary route like this would have been "bulldozed" through long ago. Tralee - Killarney - County Bounds is mostly a good road. Ballincollig Bypass - N40 flyovers to Dunkettle is soon to be a very good road. Let's just clear this 22km nightmare in the middle once and for all. It will still leave room for improvement east of Macroom to Lissarda.

imangry29 wrote: »

Judgement on Judicial Review pushed back to 12th November.

http://highcourtsearch.courts.ie/hcslive/court_lists.show?sessionID=371787688&yearNo=2011&recordNo=431&processType=JR

Anyone up to speed on the legal mumbo jumbo of abbreviations that appear in the right hand column entitled "Note" on the page linked above? Hopefully JDT actually stands for Judgement?

Hi imangry, the link brings up "Expired Session"... It's hard to see money being ploughed into the road at the moment because that could all be put towards the bypass... I can't believe they let Bord Gais dig up the whole town when 1) there is already roadworks between ****croom and Ballyvourney and 2) no one is opting for Gas right now...

Bottom line is the towns people and businesses despite all their talk do not want a bypass, who would ever go near the place unless they broke down...

Credit to the Corkman for coverage on this (only show in town to their credit) - 2 articles from November and December:
http://www.corkman.ie/news/high-court-finds-n22-planning-process-fair-3303807.html
http://www.corkman.ie/news/leave-sought-to-appeal-n22-ruling-3330727.html
Good news and a concrete judgement delivered. Appellant's legal arguments "misconceived". Planning process was "lengthy, public and fair".
"The Judge said she found no material flaws in the procedure of the Board, and that it had due regard to the material before it."
Not across the line yet, appellants are appealling for leave to appeal to Supreme Court, to be heard in March!

For the little information it provides on the case thus far, see Courts.ie, use High Court Search function and enter 2011 (year) 431 (case number) and specify that 'Proceedings' are JR Judicial Review (from dropdown). Judgement delivered 10th December, no sign of that text yet on the website.

Agree completely that Adare (what a shame on that!) and Macroom schemes would be of far greater benefit to Kerry, than the Tralee bypass (which will only benefit Tralee road users at a local level). Kerry is totally isolated on the national road network, arguably more so than the North West and requires connectivity for the benefit of the entire county.

Court hearing for leave to appeal to Supreme Court adjourned to 22 April (and who knows how long more again after that ... Easy to see how the legal profession makes a living). Cork CoCo minutes from Feb show scheme allocated €400,000 for 2013 from NRA to progress land acquisition, subject to positive outcome in court. (Dunkettle awarded €200,000 also subject to outcome of statutory proceedings)

NRA Annual Report 2012 and Programme 2013 available to download on the NRA website (under General Publications). Page 11 indicates what's on the agenda after current PPP package. Nice to see N22 scheme at the top of the list for whatever reason (usually the schemes are listed in order of road number) Fingers crossed now on court judgement this month! Fred Barry hinting though that nothing beyond the PPPs will start during govt lifetime (page 2).

The High Court saga rumbles on. Judgement reserved on 30 April in the Stack Shanahan application for leave to appeal their failed case to the Supreme Court. Justice O'Malley suspends judgement on application to 19 July.

Have ye seen the speed trap signs have moved to Macroom and Ballyvourney towns now also, 50km limit in BV, impossible to abide by early in the morning... Some fuc'king money making rackets

From the PDF that was attached I make it out to be 22KM - I'm heading home this weekend so I'll see how long it takes me to do this 22KM section. I assume once it's done I should be able to do it in under 15min doing 100KPH. I'd say it takes at least 30min at the moment.

When the cork roundabouts are finished and this road is complete (god only knows when) I reckon I'll be able to do Dublin to Kenmare in about 3hrs , it's 3.5 at the moment.

Aye Ger - you missed a good party last weekend.

Interesting update from Minister Varadkar during the week. http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/(indexlookupdail)/20130515~BB?opendocument#BB00700

"...To ensure there might be projects suitable for inclusion in future phases of the PPP programme in the medium term, the NRA has decided to take a number of projects through the planning process to develop a pipeline of potential future projects. In this regard, I understand the NRA intends to submit to the N5 Westport to Turlough project and the N5 Colloney to Castlebaldwin project to An Bord Pleanála later in the year. The Macroom bypass project was approved by An Bord Pleanála in April 2011. However, a judicial review against the approval of the scheme was heard and rejected by the High Court. I understand the applicant has sought leave to appeal against the High Court’s decision. A determination on whether leave to appeal will be granted is due to be made in July. Depending on the outcome of the latter, this is a project which the NRA may give consideration to including in a future round of PPP projects."

A lot of 'maybe's and 'ifs' but with the right outcome in July, looks like Macroom would be top of the queue for the next PPP round based on above - particularly if delay continues in Galway.