Between a rock and wet place

Hundreds of interested locals attended a two-day public consultation on plans for the bypassing of Virginia town recently.

The event at the Virginia Show Centre, March 11-12, offered an opportunity for attendees to voice their opinions on the proposed critical piece of infrastructure; while also getting more informed about the scheme, initial findings and potential constraints.
In total there are nine possible route options available - four to the west of Lough Ramor, towards Oldcastle, and five to the east, on the Killinkere side.
All corridors are 300 metres wide to allow for further refinement; while there are a number of variations or links between route options also.
Overall, the project is currently at Phase 2 (options selection) in the TII roadmap of such guidelines, a process expected to finish later this year, with a preferred route selected by Spring/Summer 2021.
The focus then will switch to design and environmental assessment, following which, subject to approval, finalising the statutory processes including the compulsory purchase of land from Summer/Autumn 2022.
Somewhere in the region of €2.1 million will be invested in the coming years - €100,000 in 2020, and €1m each in 2021 and 2022. The total estimated cost could reach €130m once finished.
Eamon Daly is project director with Barry Transportation, the company appointed by the council as technical advisors through the first four phases of the project.
A chartered engineer with over 20 years of experience in the field, Mr Daly specialises in transportation, road design and traffic engineering.
When The Anglo-Celt spoke with Mr Daly it’s already day two of the public consultation. He’s been through the wringer, having faced a myriad of questions from an inquisitive public, all of whom he says thankfully are “eager” to see the project progressed.
“It’s been very positive from the perspective that everyone at least acknowledges a bypass has to happen,” says Mr Daly.
The objectives of the bypass are to ultimately improve regional accessibility, journey times, and safety along the N3.
The new route will link the existing N3 dual carriageway north of Kells in Co Meath to the existing N3 north of Virginia Town in Cavan.
The process of finalisation is to be done in three phases - with nine routes whittled down to between three to five over the next six months, each scrutinised for environmental, engineering and economic considerations.
A more detailed assessment will then carried out based on departmental guidelines, at which stage the consultants will bring their findings back to the public arena.
“We’ll firm our options then with a few more targeted surveys and, by Summer 2021, we should have what will be our preferred option.”
Mr Daly accepts however the challenges posed by this project, a key commitment for the region under the Government’s Ireland 2040 plan, are “numerous”.

 

Rock and bog
Topography such as mountainous rock or sticky bog and peat area, ribbon development, as well as heritage constraints, are all factors that will impinge upon the route decision is made.
“If it was easy, it probably would have been done years ago,” Mr Daly wryly accepts.
“All of those challenges will be taken into account in the assessments. As you can see, these are not necessarily straight roads. There is a lot of heritage, a lot of development has taken place in and around Virginia. We have to work around that,” said the senior engineer, adding that the public consultation has bought to the attention of planners a number of factors not previously noticed.
“We’re constantly learning - the different types of farming in the area, how people and areas are connected. It’s information you can’t learn from a map. It goes to show the importance of these public sessions, to feel those things out. We know, like any development, that this will impact on people, but our goal here is to minimise those impacts.”
One person viewing the maps, who asked not to be named, commended the consultant team for being so progressive and comprehensive with their mapping.
“I think they’ve done a great job,” says the man. “There are a lot of options there, it shows there’s thought being put into it.”
Asked next if he personally is affected by any of the routes, he replies: “Yes, some, others not so much. We would have a route we’d prefer see happen, and others we wouldn’t. I think everybody is coming to this with the same set of opinions.”
The man reveals he’d “prefer” to see the ‘Green’ or the ‘Red’ route happen, going to the east of Lough Ramor.
“The worst for us would be the [Magenta] route,” he adds. “They’ve still a lot of work to do, some will have to be eliminated, so I’ll wait and see, I won’t get excited until that point.”
On the converse, husband and wife Larry and Mairead O’Meara believe the ‘Red’ or ‘Magenta’ routes east of Lough Ramor would best suit the town.
Both run closest to the current road and Mairead believes they would offer the best opportunities for businesses to still benefit from any passing trade.
“It’s nearer to the town. If they go with [blue west of Ramor] where we are, it’s a long way around, isn’t it. That’s how I look at it,” suggests Mairead. “There’s a lot to think about.”
More information on the project is available at www.n3virginiabypass.ie and the Cavan County Council website.