Killaloe bypass, Shannon crossing & R494 Birdhill-Killaloe

Tis a fine looking structure alright.

The only thing that jumped out at me … the outer guard rail is a bit … stabby looking???

If, say, somebody was flying along on their bike and lost control and fell on to one of those yokes, they could do themselves serious damage.

Indeed. Let's install them everywhere to trim the herd

Agreed, this isn’t a “statement” bridge, but it’s a bridge that fits beautifully into the landscape around it.

It is a stunning bridge in fairness. Much nicer than the cable stayed monstrosity that is be planned to bridge the Garavogue river in Sligo town. The river is very shallow there. Something like this would fit the landscape much better versus what Sligo CoCo have selected (below) (They were given 6 options).

The part of the bypass from Clarisford park to the Killaloe Hotel (bypassing Killaloe town) is due to open this Friday.

December update posted on the ClareCoco website

The ongoing Killaloe Bypass, Shannon Bridge Crossing & R494 Improvement Scheme is now at an advanced stage with significant milestones and deliverables being achieved.

Clare County Council are pleased to announce that the Killaloe Bypass section of the works will be opened today at 12noon, Wednesday 18th of December.

All road users are requested to exercise caution when proceeding on this new road layout from the new “Kincora Roundabout” to the North of the town of Killaloe which connects the R463 with the proposed Shannon Bridge Crossing section to the south of the town at “Shantraud Roundabout” on the R463 Regional Road to O’Briensbridge.

This section of the scheme is approximately 2km in length with a carriageway width of 7.0m and a segregated 2.5m wide cycle facility (northern side) and pedestrian footpath (town side) of the new road.

Clare County Council greatly appreciates the ongoing support and co-operation from all members of the public who have been impacted by these works over the last two years. This sectional completion represents the first major deliverable for the project, which is due for completion in mid-2025.

A pity they didn't employ the same designer when designing the bridge crossing the blackwater on the M8 just east of Fermoy. A horrid concrete eyesore is there today and clearly visible from the centre of town. A great opportunity was missed to put something special in place.

Pedestrianising the existing bridge would inconvenience a lot of people doing the school run and I think wouldn't be welcomed by locals as much as non locals might think. Large semi's was the main problem.

There is a large number of people against it as seen on the local forums. HGV's only contribute a very small amount to the congestion. It is very high volumes of local traffic at school time and commuting time for work that causes the congestion.

That coupled with the fact that the largest volume of people live on the Ballina side and most of the amenities, supermarkets schools etc are located on the Killaloe side.

The new bridge will have a great effect in the summer as most of the Two mile gate traffic will now be able to bypass both towns.

While I don't want to see it shut down, I believe if the old bridge stays open in its current format with the traffic lights there will be little effect on rush hour traffic.

A compromise might be no lights and one way from the Killaloe to Ballina direction with a 3.5 ton weight limit. From a traffic flow point of view this would keep traffic moving better than if it were one way in the other direction.

Traffic accessing the two super markets can do so in either direction off the bypass. leaving only the school traffic on the newline road.

The new bridge isn't that far out of the way; it would add maybe five minutes each way to a school run vs. using the old bridge. When you consider how much time you'd save by not having to wait at the clogged Ballina mini-roundabout and traffic lights at the old bridge, it could easily come out almost even.

My parents live in Ballina, they walk everywhere unless they need to leave the village because the traffic is mental. A reduction in through traffic alone will be a massive relief to everyone out there.

The people who live there, like me, are the school run traffic.

You aren’t the only resident of the town: maybe other parents would like their kids to be able to walk or cycle across that bridge to school, but rightly don’t want them crossing using the too-narrow “footpath” that’s just a bit of red tarmac without even a kerb to separate them from cars.

The bridge is too narrow for cars and pedestrians to both use it safely - pedestrianising it is the only option that makes any sense once there's an alternative river crossing for car drivers.

The mobility plan documents (Killaloe Ballina Town Enhancement and Mobility Plan January 2022) give a sample route from Ballina Primary School to SuperValu in Killaloe as a 2.8 km drive, taking 3 minutes 42 seconds by car, using the bypass bridge - let's call it 4 minutes. Right now, Google Maps tells me it'll take 3 minutes to do the same trip via the current bridge. How much of a hardship is an extra sixty seconds in your car?