BYCATRIONA GALLEN
IT will be at least five years before motorists will see a bridge constructed over the river Swilly in Letterkenny.
Senior Engineer with the National Roads Office, Karen Hartin said the link across the river is only at route selection stage and will take at least another five to 10 years before any structure will be in place.
Strong criticism was levelled at the government and national roads authority this week following huge tail backs in Letterkenny which saw many motorists in traffic jams for upwards of an hour. The Easter Bank Holiday traffic extended for miles out all main routes as hundreds of holiday makers converged on the Port road bridge - the main crossing point in and out of Letterkenny for northern motorists.
Ms Hartin said that plans were in place for a bridge across the Swilly which will form part of the inner relief road. A new road is planned to link with the roundabout at Donegal Creameries on the Ramelton road across a new bridge, joining up with the Dry Arch roundabout. This relief road will link up with the business park road which accesses the N56 at Pramerica. She said the bridge will be put in place but land access and the actual route and planning process had not yet been completed and will take at least five years before the paperwork and route was finalised.
Mr Michael McGarvey, Divisional Manager for Regional Roads, said that there are three bridges proposed across the Swilly on the existing Letterkenny and Environs Plan, 2008 however the only structure which will be constructed in the near future will be the proposed link from the Ramelton road to the Dry Arch roundabout. He said this proposal had gone to the route planning stage and will go forward for public consultation soon. Other bridges across the Swilly are heavily dependent on development plans. A second crossing is proposed linking the town with Leck and the third proposal sites a bridge close to the St Eunan's GAA grounds, however, Mr McGarvey stressed such projects would be heavily development driven and may not come to fruition for another 20 years.
Many motorists and local politicians levelled criticism at the development of Mulroy bridge, linking the Fanad and Rosguill peninsulas, before traffic problems in Letterkenny had been addressed.
Deputy Niall Blaney, who campaigned for the bridge across Mulroy Bay as an Independent Fianna Fail candidate before joining the Fianna Fail party has defended the Mulroy project stating that both are separate issues. He said ¤100,000 had been earmarked for the route selection of the new bridge across the Swilly which he hoped would begin within two years.
