N55 - Corduff to South of Killydoon

marno21

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicTenders/ViewNotice/273803

Tender award notice. 19.8m cost.

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120207257#Comment_120207257

seems dear for only 3.7km of road but theres 3x new bridges over the Erne so that probably explains a lot of it

Someone has convienently added this scheme to open street map for anyone wondering where it is

https://osm.org/go/etjLfTnl--

Chris_5339762

It's certainly the route that involves less disruption to houses which is good, but its interesting that it'll have three crossings of the same river in only a few kilometers. Is that a record in Ireland?

spacetweek

Bloody river is being very awkward!

munchkin_utd

I was wondering myself whats going on, so I asked google.

Fírstly, contracts were signed in early Feb 2023

https://www.cavancoco.ie/news/2023/contracts-signed-for-n55-corduff-to-south-of-killydoon-section-b.html

And in June there was a progress report from the site where the bold statement was made that the project will come in on time and budget by Dec 2024, at a projected cost of €30million

https://www.anglocelt.ie/2023/06/16/killydoon-bypass-to-be-delivered-on-time-and-on-budget/

heres the council website for the scheme(s)

https://www.cavancoco.ie/services/roads-transportation/road-schemes/n55-realignment-scheme/

and just to illustrate the long term strategy of Cavan Co Co in getting "resources" to get this scheme to a shovel ready state, they have been slowly tipping away in preparation for this since at least 2012

https://merrionstreet.ie/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2012-minor-works-at-planning-stage1.pdf

road_high

I came down this way from Cavan to Kilkenny last month and could not get over the improvements. And they seemed to be stuck into another long stretch north of granard. It’s a pity the athlone to ballymahon stretch is still so crap. I hate those hairpin rollercoasters near athlone

road_high

The N4 to Longford is not a terrible and on the rare occasions it is quiet it is fine. But mostly it seems way overcapacity and isn’t safe as a result. I’d like to see it happen

SeanW

I was out this way a couple of days ago, construction is in full swing. At the moment there is extensive use of temporary roads, each one lane only so there are three sets of traffic lights: one just South of Killydoon, one just North of the village and another set about a mile North of that. Basically what's up on open street map right now is correct.

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122006834#Comment_122006834

mentioned above:

"And in June there was a progress report from the site where the bold statement was made that the project will come in on time and budget by Dec 2024, at a projected cost of €30million"

munchkin_utd

I just travelled on this road and the section to the south of Killydoon looks to be almost finished with the road using a little of the new road but mostly the old road. There’s traffic lights in operation but it doesn’t hold you up too long

The “bypass” of Killydoon though is now open which is really the big benefit of this scheme . That was a welcome surprise!

Slutmonkey57b

Ballinagh seems to have a much bigger problem with huge trucks going through it than Granard or Edgeworthstown, so I would say a bypass is fairly necessary. The traffic practically disappears once you're southbound on the new stretch.

roc77

Any word locally on whether this will open before the end of the year, as previously communicated?

Freddypaccman

Mainline is substantially complete and is open to traffic. Just a few loose ends remaining, mostly on side roads. 1 set of lights around the most northern bridge.

munchkin_utd

Drove it yesterday. Still a limit of 60kmh on the new stretch. There was an extraordinary amount of people/ equipment on site taking care of the little things like drains/ side roads etc.

It seems the next potential improvement would indeed be a Ballinagh bypass/ relief road and there has been some initial consultancy work done on this.

Further south, Longford council were doing some paving works on the N55 at various places in the past weeks but they seem to have zero interest in sorting out any of the substandard bit between Granard and the county bounds.
There was 100k funding in 2024 for initial investigations into a Granard By-pass so thats at least something. Maybe they will discover on their investigations that not all roads lead to Dublin/ Longford town and that they will be linking their bypass onto a very substandard section that they seem to have zero knowledge of.

bigtimecharlie

All complete. Site area cleared out by Friday last. 2 years from start to finish.

Slutmonkey57b

Having just dealt with an Irish plumber, the notion of workmen cleaning up after themselves is more exciting than it should be.