Report on East-West route ‘options’ to be presented

Route demand stretches back two decades

A report detailing what “options” are available in relation to the future development of the East/West Link project will be presented to local councillors early in the New Year.

More than €2 million has been spent over the past decade and a half assessing the proposed corridor connecting Dundalk and Sligo, and taking in a large section of Cavan.

The Department of Transport, in the period between 2007-2014, provided over €2m to progress the regional road element of the project to preliminary design.

First mooted over two decades ago, little progress has been made and the project received a further knock-back when dropped in 2005 by the then National Roads Authority (NRA), which did not regard the road as a priority for the region.

An additional €130,000 was allocated in more recent years to Cavan County Council as lead authority on the project to allow for further preparatory work. The council engaged Dublin-based Roughan and O’Donovan Consulting Engineers to conduct a preliminary appraisal in late 2018.

This included reporting on sections of the R188 between Cavan Town and Cootehill; the R192 connecting Cootehill and Shercock; the R162 from Kingscourt to Shercock; and the R178 from Shercock to Carrickmacross and Dundalk.

That report has been finalised, the Celt can confirm, with the consultants expected to present their findings to the elected members of Cavan County Council early in the New Year.

“They will give the report and a presentation on the various options,” confirmed Director of Services for Roads, Paddy Connaughton.

Those “various options”, he informed, will apply to all three local authorities involved in the project - counties Cavan, Monaghan and Louth.

It is estimated it could cost as much as €150 million to deliver the East-West Link, which is included as a strategic route improvement scheme in the Cavan County Development plan.

However, despite hopes, the project was snubbed in the revised National Development Plan adopted earlier this year. The plan contained a number of other local projects, including funding for the N3 Virginia bypass.

But the decision not to include the East-West link drew sharp criticism from local businesses, particularly in the industrial heartland of Cootehill where the project is deemed critical.

There are safety concerns too, with local Fine Gael Councillor Carmel Brady dubbing a long bend on the section of the R188 at Rathkenny, between Cavan and Cootehill, as “the most dangerous” in Ireland, having been the scene of more than a dozen serious crashes in the past three years.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan previously stated that, while the delivery of national road projects is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is a statutory function of local authorities and must be funded from council resources, supplemented by State road grants.

In his latest reply in the Dáil to a question regarding the East-West Link project, Minister Ryan stated: “In light of subsequent appraisal work that pointed to a very substantial cost if the full route were to be upgraded, the Department engaged with Cavan County Council in relation to carrying out a risk-based analysis for the east-west route between Dundalk and Cavan. A report on this analysis is expected shortly and future options in relation to the route will then be considered, taking into account funding availability.”