Start of new Ballina bridge works

Road works in advance of the construction of a new bridge between Ballina and Killaloe are to get underway next month.

Tipperary Co Council has given notice that the R494 Ballina-Birdhill road will be closed daily between the hours of 7am and 7pm from February 15th to March 1st. Traffic travelling to Ballina from Birdhill can proceed along the R445 (old N7) to its junction with the R496, travel onto the R494 and proceed into Ballina.

Traffic travelling to Birdhill from Ballina can proceed along the R494 to its junction with the R496, travel onto the R445 and proceed to Birdhill. Local access will be facilitated.

The reason for the closure is to facilitate advance works for the Shannon crossing scheme, a project costing more than €40 million and also involving a bypass of Killaloe and upgrading of the R494 between Ballina and Birdhill.

Construction of the new bridge between Ballina and Killaloe will be the main project for the local district for the coming years and there will be significant disruption, local councillors were informed.

Cllr Phyll Bugler sought details of the proposed traffic management system for the works at a meeting of Nenagh Municipal District. Director Marcus O'Connor expected that the contractor would commence work on the scheme next summer and he advised that the alternative route options would be limited.

"This will be the biggest non-national road job in the country," he said. "It will be very disruptive. But if we want to sort out the traffic problems there, it has to be done."

Cllr John Carroll spoke of traffic tailbacks in the area last summer and people using minor roads as alternative routes. He said the margins of these roads would have to be widened in the event of traffic diversions.

Mr O'Connor said the sequencing of the traffic lights on the existing bridge was changed to good effect. "But the basic problem is there's too much traffic going over that bridge."

He said there would be a full team of project engineers based in Ballina/Killaloe for the duration of the three-phase construction.