This Route Selection
Report for the N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom - Ballincollig Road Project (Project
Road) has been prepared in accordance with the National Road Authority’s (NRA)
National Roads Project Management Guidelines (Version 1.1, March 2000).
The purpose of the route
selection report is to assess potential routes so that a preferred route
corridor may be identified.
Reference is made to the
Constraints Study Report, which was produced prior to the route selection
process.
For the avoidance of doubt
the following text has been included on and applies to all scheme drawings:-
‘The route alignments and/or corridors shown are proposed route options. Their locations are intended to be indicative
only. In the case of the Preferred
Route, the locations of both the alignment and corridor are subject to change
as a result of further assessment, design and ongoing studies.”
The National Road Needs
Study (1998) provides a basis for national roads policy in Ireland for the
period 2000 – 2019. Within the report,
the N22 is described as a Strategic Corridor Link between Cork, Killarney and
Tralee.
In order to cater for
projected traffic levels in 2019, the National Road Needs Study proposed the
following improvements to the N22 between Ballincollig and Ballyvourney
(currently National Primary Route):
·
Ballincollig to
Coachford Junction (R619):
Reduced Dual carriageway improvement.
·
Coachford Junction
(R619) to Macroom:
Wide 2 Lane carriageway improvement
·
Macroom bypass to
Ballyvourney/Ballymakeery bypass:
Standard 2 lane carriageway improvement
Since publication of the
Road Needs Study, the NRA and Cork County Council (CCC) have requested that the
need for a dual carriageway between Ballincollig and Macroom, and a wide single
carriageway between Macroom and Ballyvourney be investigated.
The need for major
improvements to the N22 (Tralee/Killarney/Cork) is referred to in The National
Development Plan (2000-2006), which includes for a major investment programme
in the national road network in order to provide for continuing sustainable
national economic and employment growth.
This report has been
produced by McCarthy Hyder Consultants in association with P J Tobin, who have
been appointed by the National Roads Office Cork County Council, to provide
engineering and environmental services for the N22 Ballyvourney - Macroom -
Ballincollig Road Project. McCarthy Hyder
Consultants have in turn appointed the following specialist sub-consultants to
contribute to this report:
·
Irish Archaeological
Consultancy
·
Crop Husbandry
Services (Agriculture)
·
RPS Environmental
Sciences (Ecology)
During the preparation of
the study and this report, McCarthy Hyder (and their sub consultants) contacted
various organisations with regard to information about the area, such as
constraints and statutory designations.
A Constraints Report was
produced prior to the Second Public Consultation and updated in October 2001 to
include the relevant information gained from the Second Public
Consultation. This report was published
and copies made available for purchase from the National Roads Office
(Glanmire), and available for inspection at CCC offices in Macroom and
Ballincollig. This report was also
placed on CCC’s website towards the end of the year.
Due to the ‘English
translation’ of many place names from Gaelic, the spelling may vary between
different mapping/road signs (for instance Baile Mhic Ire is spelt Ballymakeery
on OS discovery mapping, but Ballymakeera on the road sign at the entrance to
the town). To provide a consistent
approach in this report, the ‘English’ place name spelling will be used taken
from the Ordnance Survey Discovery series.
A1 drawings are provided
in a separate volume.
The tie-in at the eastern
end of this Project will be at the Ballincollig Bypass. Construction of this bypass commenced in
January 2002 and the expected completion date is late 2004.
Horizontal and Vertical
design shown on the drawings is for feasibility design purposes only and will
be subject to amendment at later design stages.
Quantities given within
the document for the various route options are based on feasibility design, for
comparative purposes, and may be subject to change during preliminary and
detailed design.
Throughout the report,
reference is made to nodes and route section references along the routes. The location of these nodes and references
are shown in Figure 3.4 and listed in Section 3.7.
The following mapping has
been used for the work undertaken on the Route Selection Study:
·
1: 50,000 OS
Discovery Series
·
6” OS Mapping
·
Colour Aerial
Photographs (Summer 2000) taken at 20,000ft (approx. 1:40,000 scale)
·
Colour Aerial
Photograph (Summer 2001) (approx 1:10,000 scale)
The area is dominated by
the Lee Valley reservoir, which was created by the construction of dams at
Inishcarra and Carrigadrohid. The area
is mountainous with river valleys. The
elevation of the area ranges between 50 – 330mOD. The highest ground level is at Cappagh East, north of
Ballymakeery, to the north west of the area.
There is a relatively low-lying area (50-60mOD) along the River Bride
valley to the south of the existing N22 between Ovens and Crookstown, which is
in the south east of the Study Area.
The River Lee valley, which runs west to east across the area, has been
flooded by the construction of dams at Inishcarra and Carrigadrohid. The Discovery Series mapping shows the water
level of the resultant Carrigadrohid reservoir in the region 60mOD and that of
the Inishcarra reservoir around 50mOD.
The River Sullane valley runs south of the existing N22 between
Ballyvourney and Macroom. The levels in
this valley range between 120mOD near Ballyvourney to 65mOD at Macroom.
The existing N22 passes
through several towns/townlands for the section between Ballyvourney and
Ballincollig. These towns/townlands
include Ballyvourney, Ballymakeery, Macroom, Lissarda and Ovens. Junctions to side roads and accesses are
also frequent to both sides of the carriageway throughout the project’s length.
The existing N22 from
Ballyvourney to the west of Macroom has a substandard horizontal alignment
where there are tight bends with no overtaking opportunity and forward
visibility is restricted by the topography.
Within Macroom, the existing route is severely restricted by parked cars
and the road narrows at the Town Square to a point that there is insufficient
width for a Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) and a car to pass. Between Macroom and Lissarda, the hard
shoulders narrow and the alignment is bendy with no safe overtaking
opportunity. The existing N22 between
Ovens and Lissarda is a fairly straight, wide road with 2m hard shoulders to
both sides. There are a number of minor
road accesses along this length of road with substandard junction layouts.