Local councillors are up in arms that not one red cent has been made available to start vital realignment works on the dangerous bends at the Blue Banks, near Kilmacrennan.
The uproar comes after the Government provided a further €12 million for the next phase of works on the N56.
The Tirconail Tribune reports that Independent Cllrs. Michael McBride and Ian McGarvey believe the essential works at the Blue Banks have been put on the long finger in favour of more tourism related projects in the west of the county on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Meanwhile Cllr. Ciaran Brogan says only €2.5 million is needed to begin the Blue Banks work and the fact that the CPO’s have not been completed is not a problem.
He said that negotiations can continue at the same time as the work and he’s shocked that no funding, apart from a land purchase allocation has been approved in recent years.
Brogan also says that nobody should be fooled with last week’s news that Donegal had been allocated €17 million in roads funding.
That money was already announced in January in the national roads budget and its now being recycled,” he said.
Cllr. Ian McGarvey says as far as he’s concerned the removal of the bends at the Blue Banks has been on the agenda for well over thirty years. He says this road has been allowed to fall off the agenda in the past five to six years and he wants to know why.
And with substantial money being provided for the N56 in the west of the county, opposition politicians believe the government is setting out its stall for votes in that part of the constituency where they lost a Fine Gael seat at the general election last year.
Ten years after Phase 2 of the Mountain Top to Illistrin road was completed and thirty years after calls for the dangerous bends at the Blue Banks to be removed, the essential remedial works have not been carried out and Cllrs say they are at a loss to understand the lack of progress.
Cllrs. McBride and McGarvey say it is also their feeling that progress on the Blue Banks has been compromised because it is not part of the Wild Atlantic Way.
Both Cllrs. point to the fact that in recent years all funding for construction on the N56 has gone to the Wild Atlantic Way route around the Gweebarra area.
Michael McBride says he’s been to Dublin on the last three Donegal County Council delegations to meet the national transport funding agency and he’s beginning to lose confidence in the entire structure.
Cllr. McBride said that the CPO’s at the Blue Banks have not yet been completed and that does not offer any great hope of progress for funding in 2018 and he fears that the realignment works that have been stalled for ten years will remain that way into the foreseeable future.
The issue is due to be raised with the Council next week at their Lifford meeting as Members seek to establish why no obvious progress has been made in realigning the Blue Bank bends… after a lifetime waiting for action.
Following the completion of the works at Hogg’s Bridge, Illistrin a decade ago it was anticipated that substantial funding for the realignment at the Blue Banks and out towards the Termon Junction would follow immediately.
Now ten years later and thirty years after the late Cllr. Eddie O’Donnell had the Blue Banks at the top of his funding agenda in the interests of road safety, the dangerous bends are carrying much more traffic and Cllr. McBride says this is a lethal situation.
And he says that as part of the annual clean up day in the Kilmacrennan area, going anywhere near the Blue Banks poses a serious threat to the lives of those involved…”but why has this danger not been removed,” he asks.
He’s also referenced the dangers on the N56 between The Lagoon and the Termon junction where the camber of the road has caused so many vehicles to crash and again no plans for funding to reconstruct this section are in place.
And hopes for any immediate works on the Blue Banks were dashed yet again last week when the Government announced funding of €17m for key roads projects in Donegal which includes €12 million for the second phase of the upgrade of the N56 at Gweebarra and €5 million for three other key routes.
The Mountain Top to Illistrin section of the N56 was declared opened by the former Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan in 2007. The Minister said that the success of this project is reflected in the fact that improvement was finished 12 months ahead of schedule, and on budget at a cost of €29.59 million.
Phase 2 was 3.5km in length and extended from the Calhame Junction to Hogg’s Bridge at Illistrin… but it’s not gone one inch further in these past ten years.
Cllr Michael McBride sought a progress report on progress on the Blue Banks at a Letterkenny municipal meeting over a year ago. He was informed: “The NRADO had advised tender documents were being completed and should be ready for tender by March 2016. The scheme included a significant section of trunk and distributor water main to be funded by Irish Water.
The scheme had not been approved to go to tender. The allocation for 2016 was in relation to the continued purchase of land following confirmation of the CPO/EIS at the end of 2014.”
Last week, Junior Minister, Joe McHugh announced the completion of the latest phase of works on the N56: the €11.5 million route at Boyoughter with the next phase from Kilkenny to Letterilly due to begin at a further cost of €12 million.
“The route under re-construction runs for 26.9kms and has an estimated cost – excluding land purchases – around €70 million,” added McHugh.
“But where is the funding and the timeframe on the priority list for the Blue Banks,” asks Cllr McBride.