Skip to main content

A decade for completing the 105km Cork-Limerick M20

It could be a decade before Ireland’s 105km Cork-Limerick M20 motorway is finished, the government has warned. Road safety groups and businesses have been pushing for the €900m M20 motorway because of issues over fatalities on the existing rural route. Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the government was committed to the route – the largest motorway project to be undertaken in the next 25 years, and money has been earmarked for it. According to Irish media, Coveney also noted tha
December 10, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

It could be a decade before Ireland’s 105km Cork-Limerick M20 motorway is finished, the government has warned.

Road safety groups and businesses have been pushing for the €900m M20 motorway because of issues over fatalities on the existing rural route.

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, said the government was committed to the route – the largest motorway project to be undertaken in the next 25 years, and money has been earmarked for it.

According to Irish media, Coveney also noted that other important projects would be completed first, including the Dunkettle Interchange, the N22 bypass of Macroom and Ballyvourney towns and the N28 project.

In September 2015 the government set aside funding for the Dunkettle Interchange on the east side of Cork. The contractor Sisk was appointed and work is expected to be finished sometime in 2020.

Meanwhile, construction will start in 2020 on the €214 million Macroom bypass - the N22 dual carriageway. The scheme which includes 22kms of new road as well as 18 local road bridges and road alignments. The bypass will run from Coolcower to the Kerry side of Ballyvourney. There will be 24 farm overpasses and underpasses, according to earlier statements from Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Last year, Ireland’s Construction Industry Federation said that upgrades to the Dunkettle Interchange and on the N28 are the country’s most important infrastructural projects. The N28 road connects the port and village of Ringaskiddy to Cork, a distance of nearly 20km. The upgrade will see around 11km turned into motorway and almost 5km of new and realigned regional and local roads.

Related Content

  • Progress delayed on Kenya's vital highway link
    February 16, 2012
    Kenya is investing in road developments , reports Shem Oirere. A multi-million dollar highway expansion project in Kenya's capital Nairobi may now be delayed for close to a year because of a huge underground network of water, electricity and communication pipes and cables that has slowed down construction works.
  • Ethiopia’s challenging cement market: consumption stimulation
    January 26, 2018
    Ethiopia’s cement industry has enjoyed substantial growth in the past decade. However, challenges linked to the government’s investment policy could erode these gains, as Shem Oirere reports With nearly 16.5 million tonnes of cement capacity and 10% average growth in annual consumption, Ethiopia is among the top cement producers in sub-Saharan Africa. Only Nigeria and South Africa rival it.
  • Republic of Ireland’s N25 New Ross Bypass achieves financial close
    March 3, 2016
    The €230 million N25 New Ross Bypass public-private partnership (PPP) project in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland has reached financial close. Mott MacDonald is technical advisor on the public-private partnership, awarded by the National Roads Authority, otherwise known as Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Work will be carried out by BAM Ireland and Dragados, a construction division of ACS Group, based in Spain. The scheme involves construction of 13.6km of dual carriageway and 1.2km of new or u
  • Poland's ambitious highway construction plans
    July 10, 2012
    The European football championships are among a number of things pushing Poland's ambitious highway building programme. Patrick Smith reports. Poland is planning to spend a colossal €4.57 billion on road projects in 2009, a 35% increase over the previous year. T