Work to Begin on Vital South West Road - N22 Linking Kerry and Cork

Tuesday 27TH July 2004

 Further improvements to the strategic N22 in the South West, linking Tralee and Killarney in County Kerry with Cork, have been announced today (Tuesday 27th July 2004) in a joint statement by the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Kerry County Council.

The Minister for Transport, Mr.Seamus Brennan T.D. today turned the sod on the N22 Gortatlea to Farranfore road scheme and Kerry County Council signed an €11.6m contract for the construction of the project with Sorensen Civil Engineering Limited, County Cork.   

Chief Executive of the NRA, Mr. Michael Tobin, said, “ Over the last 5 years, under the National Development Plan, the NRA has allocated  €112m towards improving the National Road Network in County Kerry. A total of €26m was allocated to Kerry this year of which €7.9m has been provided for improvement works on the N22. The Authority recognises the importance of the N22 as a route that links Kerry with Cork. Kerry is one of the primary tourist destinations in the country and the completing of this section of the N22 in 2006 will strengthen the tourism industry and encourage further economic development of industry in the county.”

Mr Tobin said, “As we embark on an enlarged EU, it is now more critical than ever that Ireland has a high quality national road infrastructure if we are to remain competitive and achieve a level playing field in terms of the efficient and cost effective transportation of goods. Ireland has traditionally had a lower standard of road infrastructure than many of the EU Member States. However, this position is rapidly changing as a result of the significant improvements being made on major inter-urban routes throughout the country, including the N7 Dublin- Limerick route and onward connections to Kerry, as well as numerous schemes on other sections of the network, including the N22 which meets a vital need in relation to travel within county Kerry.

Deputy Mayor of Kerry, Cllr John Brassil, said ” This scheme forms part of Kerry County Council’s overall strategy and ambitious target of improving and upgrading the National Primary Road Network in the County during the lifetime of the National Development Plan. Road improvement works are both essential and hugely beneficial to the economic well being of the county.

The 4km scheme will extend the recently improved section of the N22 Bealagrellagh- Gortatlea road. The realignment work will commence 10km outside Tralee at Gortatlea and terminate at Inchinveema, north of Farranfore. The work will also involve the construction of a bridge over the River Maine and a local road overbridge serving the village of Currans.”

According to Mr. Brassil, “Construction will start in August 2004 and is scheduled to take 18months. Once this project is completed, an 8km section of N22 National Primary Road between Tralee and Killarney will have been improved to wide single carriageway standard catering for more than 8,500 vehicles per day. The N22 Gortatlea to Farranfore scheme will bring significant safety benefits to road users.”

The project is being financed by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan, (NDP) 2000-2006, and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.