Renewed calls for a third bridge over the Barrow
Calls for a third bridge in Carlow town
CARLOW TOWN urgently needs a third river crossing, but the prospect of it happening may be two decades away and require the staggering sum of €50m.
So reflected members of Carlow Municipal District at their meeting last week as the much-discussed southern relief road for the town to incorporate a third bridge over the River Barrow was raised.
Cllr Fergal Browne said there was “no doubt, we need a third bridge to relieve traffic”. And as if to prove the point, cllr Ken Murnane revealed that a recent morning-time accident on the Bill Duggan bridge meant that Graiguecullen bridge was the only crossing point, leading to gridlock in the town.
“It took three-quarters of an hour to get from Shamrock Square to Graiguecullen school … teachers and everything were late,” he stated.
“The reality is that a third bridge is at least 15 years away, and if we are lucky, we’ll be able to deliver the road from Éire Óg to Ken Black’s in the next five or six years,” said cllr Murnane.
“We need that bridge built, but at the moment it is pie in the sky. I mean, you are talking €40 or €50 million, and that doesn’t come easily,” he added.
Cllr Browne said he would be “far more ambitious than that” and didn’t accept cllr Murnane’s timescale. “We can’t afford to wait 15 years,” he added.
Acting director of services Kieran Cullinane reminded members of the €500,000 recently allocated to examine possible route selections for the southern relief road and the positive moves in recent months.
