Relief for Castleisland

It may be long overdue, but the people of Castleisland are delighted to see work on the town’s bypass press ahead and in this month’s edition of Irish Trucker and Light Commercials, we take a look at the project that is ongoing at the moment.

We also speak to Kerry County Engineer Paul Curry and Bam Civil contracts manager Adrian Cunningham about their respective roles in this development, which is the only major national road project starting construction in 2009. Construction work has begun with preliminary site work. This project is expected to be completed late 2010. Kerry County Council are the Employers with the project being funded by the National Roads Authority.

The scheme comprises of 5.4km of type 2 dual and single carriageway bypassing Castleisland to the west of the town and linking the N23 to the N21. In May, 2006, the compulsory purchase order for the project was granted and the Notices to Treat issued to landowners in January 2007. Since then, there have been numerous stumbling blocks due to government cutbacks, but once Bam Civil won the tender for the main contract, work finally begun in May this year and a completion date of December 2010 has been penciled in.
Castleisland has long been a bottleneck and commuters know the importance of the bypass, while Paul admitted that the new scheme is badly needed.

“The Castleisland town experiences chronic traffic congestion, resulting in long delays on all approaches to the town. The predicted increase in traffic volumes in future years will result in further problems,” said Paul.
“The project was conceived in 2000 and it has progressed since then and finally got underway this year. There were many stages to go through before reaching this stage. Planning can always be a drawn out process and choosing the preferred route is an intricate procedure. There were three routes identified and these were further narrowed down to the preferred route based on key assessment criteria.
“The estimated cost of the scheme is in the region if €34 million, which includes design, land acquisition, construction and VAT. The site clearance begun in May and the work has been progressing very well so far.
“Of the 5.4km that is being developed, 3.4km of it is type 2 dual carriageway (2+2) and this will be from the N21 Tralee road roundabout to the N21 Limerick road roundabout.

“Then 1.6km will be standard single carriageway from the N23 Farranfore road roundabout to the N21 Tralee road roundabout, while the final 0.4km will be also standard single carriageway with climbing lanes. There will be three junctions along the route, while 11 structures will be constructed along the route.”
At Castleisland, the N21 heads west to Tralee. The short N23 continues southwest to Farranfore, allowing traffic to continue south along the N22 to Killarney. A new 11 km (7 mi) road from Castleisland to Ballycarty near Tralee was opened in early 2001. This was followed by a new 3 km (1.9 mi) section into Tralee, opened in April 2005.

“Obviously, a number of roads will be affected when the construction work is ongoing and the local L-2017 road will be closed to through traffic until Monday December 21st 2009. This is to facilitate the construction of a new road overbridge.”
Paul stressed that although there would be disruptions to traffic over the coming months as work was ongoing, once the scheme was completed, it would make a huge difference to travelling times.
“An estimated 11,000 vehicles will be taken away from the town once the bypass is open and it is projected that could mean saving anything from ten minutes to an hour on travelling times.

“The diversion of 78% of all heavy goods vehicles from Castleisland will be in place also and this is a significant given the amount of haulage that passes through the town on a daily basis.”
In his role as project engineering, Paul oversees the overall management of the project and he admits that working with Bam Civil on the first bypass in the county since 1988 is going very well indeed.
“Bam Civil are one, if not the most experienced company in the country at this work. They have the workforce and materials to complete the scheme to a high standard.”

Contracts manager Adrian Cunningham echoes Paul’s sentiments and with ten years experience within the company, he knows what they are capable of doing.
“We are delighted to be involved in the design and build of the only NRA roads project to be let go ahead this year. Currently, we are have completed the site clearance stage with the main earthworks and structures progressing, despite the weather, there has been good progress made,” said Adrian.
Bam Civil has unparalleled experience in the construction of roads and bridges in Ireland, it has been responsible for many successful projects throughout the country.

“During this project, Bam Civil will be using local contractors on the scheme such as Kerry Farm Relief Services, long with local machines and suppliers. We aim to minimise the disruption to the town during the construction phase.”