Mallow states its case for Northern Relief Road

With a government announcement imminent on the proposed Cork/Limerick motorway, Mallow Development Partnership and Mallow Chamber of Commerce have once again written to Ministers Paschal Donohoe and Shane Ross, reiterating the importance of funding being provided for the start of route selection and design works on the Mallow Relief Road. The two local groups further stated that, while progression with the M20 Scheme would be very welcome, it is likely to take significant time and large amounts of finance, and in the meantime there is a strong economic case for advancing the Mallow N72/N73 Northern Relief Road as an interim scheme, which would address specific traffic problems in the Mallow area while remaining complementary to a future motorway. The case for the Mallow Northern Relief Road has received overwhelming support from Cork County Council, local TDs and political representatives, business people and residents of Mallow and the wider region. The long-awaited road also received a very welcome boost with the decision to include the project in the Capital Investment Plan 2016 (Building on Recovery).
The letters to Ministers Donohoe and Ross emphasise that the case for the relief road has already been very well made in the 2015 Indecon Report and again in the more recent Jacobs Feasibility Report (December 2017) undertaken by Cork County Council. Among the key findings of these reports are:
• The requirement for the Mallow N72/N73 Northern Relief Road stands on its own merits as a strategic congestion solution for Mallow Town east-west traffic.
• The proposed Mallow N72/N73 Northern Relief Road would serve east-west traffic in Mallow and will not impact on the alignment of the N20 corridor upgrade, should it become an approved scheme.
• Both the N20 upgrade and Mallow N72/N73 Northern Relief Road, if approved and constructed, would complement each other.
• The cost estimates are in the order of €24.3 million.