Clare TD welcomes announcement on Killaloe by-pass project award

The Department of Transport has given the green light to Clare County Council to award the contract for the Killaloe Bypass and Shannon River Crossing project to John Sisk & Sons Ltd, at a value of €43.7 million plus VAT. Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe has welcomed the announcement of the long-awaited approval.

The Killaloe Bypass and Shannon River Crossing project has been mentioned in the public sphere for years, with the completion of the project expected to see a 40% reduction in congestion between the Tipperary and Clare border towns.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to see this project now advance to its building phase,” said Deputy Crowe.

“I served the Killaloe area as a councillor as far back as 2004 and I remember this being a constant headache for politicians and engineers, as we grappled with ways of moving traffic better around the towns of Killaloe and Ballina.

“There’s a constant bottleneck on the old bridge that links Killaloe and Ballina and even though a traffic light system has been installed in recent years, the problem has never gone away.

“The development of a bypass road, along with a new bridge crossing, will hugely alleviate traffic pressures that locals are all too familiar with and I’m very confident that better traffic management around the town will entice more visitors into Killaloe and the tourism sites on both sides of the water, in Clare and Tipperary.

“This is a project that I have championed in my 20 months as a TD for Clare but I think special credit is due to local councillor Tony O’Brien who has kept this constantly high on the political agenda.

“He and a litany of community activists and Clare County Council officials have never given up on the dream of having a bypass and new bridge crossing for Killaloe.

“I’m delighted that the government has funded this and after many false dawns it’ll now see the light of day.

“The fact that construction will commence before the end of March 2022 means that locals have something very much to look forward to in the early new year.”