You can now have your say on the new route as part of the N25 Waterford to Glenmore Scheme.
A preferred option’s been found for the road which will run between Waterford and the New Ross Bypass.
Of the six possible corridors, the Navy one has emerged as the frontrunner as it provides the most sustainable solution and optimum balance of benefits and impacts in relation to the criteria of Safety, Economy, Environment, Accessibility & Social Inclusion, Integration and Physical Activity.
It can be viewed on the project website here from today until 4th June and it’s hoped many will make submissions.
Seamus Foley is Senior Executive Engineer with Kilkenny County Council and says the route as much as possible runs along the road that’s already there, telling KCLR News that’s “30% of the existing N25 so for people that know the local layout it’s basically starting at the Glenmore Roundabout and it continues up a hill that people would know if you’re leaving that roundabout heading towards Waterford and near enough to Murphy Motors the road would veer to your West and basically go offline from there and down to the Luffany Roundabout”.
He adds “We’re obviously only at phase two, we’ve picked the options, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of going to planning, so we’ve got the planning and CPO stages, they’re what we do in the next phase, we would actually design the road in order to get the documenation, drawings etc developed to such a point that we can go for planning”.
And Mr Foley says “There will be a lot of engagement over the next 12 to 13 months with landowners and interested people along that particular corridor and then obviously there may be other people as well a bit further away, mightn’t be directly impacted but also have an interest as well because naturally enough you might potentially have a road in the landscape that might be within your visual view, we’ll say, from your dwelling that you might have an opinion on how it’s laid out as well”.
Cllr Fidelis Doherty says there are just nine days to express a view and it’s important that many do just that, noting “There’s 58 farmlands affected by it, 58 farm holdings and15 of these have major severance attached to their farm holdings with 16 being moderate so it’s crossing 18 townlands with 60 non-agricultural properties being affected within 300m of the route centre so it will definitely have an impact on a lot of people so it’s important to have your say”.
