Phase one of the €170 million Ballincollig bypass in Co Cork opens this morning, six months ahead of schedule. Tim O'Brien reports.
The bypass is one of five major road schemes about to open on budget and ahead of schedule.
The new roads bypass traffic blackspots and include the Ashford and Rathnew bypass in Co Wicklow which opens this month; the Cashel bypass in Co Tipperary which opens in October and the Monasterevin, Co Kildare, bypass which opens in November.
The Carrickmacross bypass in Co Monaghan is scheduled to open in March/April of 2005 but may now open early in January. The Kildare town bypass opened last December six months ahead of its construction deadline.
A spokeswoman for the National Roads Authority said the early openings were due to investments in planning now coming on stream.
The construction industry has also geared up to meet the increased number of contracts on offer and new target price and fixed price contracts are being used as incentives for early completion. The chairman of the NRA, Mr Peter Malone, said the Ballincollig bypass would take 30 minutes off peak journey times between Cork and Killarney.
"The N22, part of the Euroroute E30, forms a vital commercial and tourist link in Cork's road network making it a major socio-economic feature in the county, to be promoted to the maximum," he added.
Today's opening of the bypass represents 70 per cent of the N22/N25 Ballincollig improvement scheme.