N52 link road between Tullamore and Kilbeggan would cost €77m

The emerging preferred route for a new N52 link road from Kilbeggan to Tullamore would cost an estimated €77.2 million to complete, it has been revealed.

The newly published 154-page Option Selection Report comes down on the side of the already published preferred route corridor. Option 2/3 is around 8.1 kilometres in length and maximises the use of existing upgraded elements of the N52, including the Tullamore bypass and M6 motorway. Around 40% of the emerging preferred route (3.3km) uses the existing stretch, with 4.8km of new road.

Leaving from Tullamore, the emerging preferred route follows the existing N52 until just north of the L2003 Ballynamona Road, where it diverges to the east. It crosses the L2005 and the L2006 High Road before merging back with the existing N52 again, north of the county boundary in the townland of Curraghglass.

Taking account of the full range of environmental assessments, the Option Selection Report argued that the emerging preferred route corridor option is the “least adversely impactful” of all considered. It is also noteworthy, the report added, that this route has “moderately lower investment costs” compared to all other choices.

The report finds there are 12 properties within 50 metres of the preferred route, and 99 within 300 metres. The route would have a potential impact on some dairy farms, and a significant impact on a number of eskers in the Clonmacnoise esker system.

Although the emerging preferred route is now in the public domain, the future of the project remains shrouded in doubt after the it wasn't part of the 2023 grant allocations by TII, for the second successive year. Many commentators would point to this showing where government priorities lie in terms of road building.

Both Offaly and Westmeath County Councils have prioritised the new link road in order to improve both connectivity and safety on the route, with very high volumes of traffic using the N52, at some 14,000 vehicles per day. Safety is compromised by a narrow hard shoulder and many at grade junctions and private access points, the consultants said.

“Traffic volumes on this 8km stretch of the road are much higher than the adjoining parts of N52 and yet the standard of the road is lower. This has led to a traffic bottleneck effect occurring along this section of the route, causing dangerous tailbacks and increasing accident risks,” the new report stated, adding that various sections of the road have been upgraded over the years, in particular between Delvin and Tullamore, with the exception of the 8km section concerned.

The N52 Tullamore to Kilbeggan Link road forms part of the overall N52 national route corridor that runs right down from Ardee in Co Louth to Nenagh in Co Tipperary.