A BUSINESS owner and councillor has said he believes road works set to commence outside Ballybofey early in the new year, to last for nine months, will not have an impact on trade.
Cllr Martin Harley told the Donegal News he was “very happy” that the works will commence on McGroary’s Brae Improvement Scheme on January 4, 2024.
Temporary traffic management will be in place on the N15 as the works get underway.
Funding was secured earlier this year and Priority Construction have been awarded the contract.
McGroary’s Brae was one of the only significant sections of the N15 without adjoining hard-shoulders from Ballybofey (Cappry) to Donegal Town.
This scheme, when constructed, will provide a consistent road layout in both directions and incorporate hard-shoulders.
The first phase of the traffic management will include a stop/go system to reduce the carriageway to one lane to enable the contractor to construct the works. It is expected that there will be some delays during this period.
Speaking to the Donegal News, Cllr Harley said that while the duration of works is quite lengthy, he said he believed they are “much needed” following a number of collisions on that stretch of road.
“Safety is the most important aspect here,” said the Donegal County Councillor and joint owner of Cheers bar in Ballybofey.
“I don’t think the road works will have any impact on business trade. There were road works there for 18 months for the other stretch and there was no impact on businesses. Since then, there have been no accidents on that part of the road whereas beforehand there were accidents nearly every two weeks,” he said.
“Works entail a crawler lane for heavy vehicles and a cycle path. It will make for a good improvement, as there have been many cyclists knocked down.
“It won’t have any impact on businesses,” said Cllr Harley, who added that it also remained “very important” that the TEN-T bypass happens.
The proposed TEN-T bypass of Ballybofey and Stranorlar will run to the north side of the towns, connecting with the N15 (Donegal Road) approximately 3.5km west of the town centres and with the N13 (Letterkenny Road) approximately 4.5km north of the town centres.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)