Letterkenny is to experience traffic gridlock with the planned three-week closure of a major road artery in the middle of the town.
The closure of the New Line Road and High Road in September will take place as part of an upgrade to the local sewerage scheme.
Irish Water in Partnership with Donegal County Council will commence the works on Monday, September 3rd.
The work will be carried out by Cleantech Group and the overall work is estimated to take approximately 18 months to complete.
CEO of Letterkenny Chamber, Toni Forrester said they had a meeting with Irish Water to discuss the project and were left “shocked” by the closure of the road.
“We learnt yesterday that the plan is to have a full closure of High Road from Newline Road to Crossview House starting on 3rd September for 3 weeks. (Pedestrian access will be maintained).
“As you might imagine we were shocked and concerned that we were only being notified now and that the businesses affected directly had only received letters yesterday.
“At the meeting we outlined all the issues that we had with this and that the Chamber and the businesses should have been consulted much earlier than this.
“Since the meeting Donegal County Council/Irish Water have come back to us to say they have agreed that a review of the options for completion of the works at this location will be undertaken in order minimise the level of disruption to public, business and community stakeholders.
“Since the meeting the contractor has agreed to work a 7 day week rather than 5 in the hope that they will get finished quicker.
“We have also asked them to keep us appraised of the traffic management plan, the communication that they intend to use to alert the public to the works and very importantly for the duration of the full project to keep us informed of their detailed plans.
“It is intended that we will now have regular contact with the Contractor’s representative and Irish Water.”
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