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

By the looks of things there that will be constructed from the west heading towards the tie in. Once the embankment between the R618 and the Sullane bridge is done (which seems to be the case now) and the Sullane bridge is ready for hauling they will start hauling fill materials eastwards.

A lot of hauling on the go now on the actual route itself taking plenty of traffic off the road network in the area.

I presume the lads are off this week as the site is very quiet and all plant seems to be parked up. A well deserved rest.

Sign at Ovens is very misleading. The N22 closure is 40km west of here but it makes no reference to this. Someone going from Cork to Bantry for example would be completely unaffected by this closure.

Is it? Some of the parts of the inter town stretch are quite behind the rest but there’s no major structures along there (with the exception of the yet to start bridge over the road that branches off at Mons Bar. To my knowledge this is the only major structure yet to start construction)

Large swathes of the Macroom section are very advanced but some elements are further behind (Coolcower, around Millstreet Road (not shown in the video), around the 2 under construction road bridges at Kilnagurteen and Cloonfadda).

Overall, they are making ferocious progress given the sheer volume of earthworks required. The terrain is very undulating and there are some massive embankments and cuttings involved, some directly after one another (e.g Coolcower-Mill Road on a lengthy embankment followed by a large cutting up the hill under the Coolyhane Road).

Itll be one incredible drive when complete.

There is a separate scheme from Macroom to Ovens which was likely suggested by TII to be included in the forthcoming National Development Plan.

The main issue being the Minister for Transport, and the inability of him and his party to see the major benefits such a scheme would have for buses, freight, and active transport in the area.

Route selection was done on the N22 Macroom-Ovens and they went with a route crossing the Lee beside Coolcower House to the west of the existing 2 mile bridge.

It may change if/when they redo route selection but this route made the most sense the last time so probably would be something similar again.

Macroom-Ovens is going to be a serious safety issue when the Baile Bhuirne-Macroom section is done. The N22 is already in the worst 4 national route stretches for safety issues (alongside the N2 north of Ardee, the N4 between Mullingar and Rooskey and the entire N20).