A different “roads” story
December 7th, 2006Two bits of good infrastructural news for Donegal today.
Firstly, Minister Mary Coughlan has confirmed that the N2 link from Dublin to Derry and Donegal will be upgraded to a motorway as part of the next National Development Plan, with more details to be released in January. It looks like the road will start at the Ardee exit from the M1, then continue through Co Monaghan, passed Omagh and Strabane, with the main road continuing towards Derry and an upgraded Road serving Donegal (and into Letterkenny).
The other announcement is that the Ballybofey/Stranorlar bypass has been upgraded to Dual Carriageway status, and will be going to Environmental Impact Statement stage in January 2007.
The roads serving Donegal have seen massive improvements in recent years, with these two links being very important upgrades. Already, we’ve seen bypasses opened on the Dublin road at Monaghan, Carrickmacross and Ardee, with the Castleblaney bypass under construction, and on the Galway/Cork road there’s new bypasses at Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Donegal Town, Knock and Claremorris. Indeed, for some years now the road from Letterkenny to Dublin and Galway has been substantially better than the road between these two cities.
As someone who travels for work to both Galway and Dublin regularly, these improvements have been great. The biggest issue that has been faced is the slow movement of road upgrades in the North. The next National Development Plan is expected to have a major element of Cross-Border Co-Ordination, which can’t come too soon.
Update: Highland Radio News Article