Leagh Bends road works won’t begin until mid-2027

CARLOW Co Council expects that roadworks on the dangerous Leagh Bends stretch of the N81 will not begin until mid-2027.

The stretch of road on the N81 is a busy artery from Carlow town to Wexford town. Five people lost their lives in two separate car crashes that occurred at the spot near Rathoe exactly a year apart from each other on 31 January 2024 and 2025.

In response to a question from cllr John Cassin about the timeline for works, director of public services Pádraig O’Gorman explained that the process of recruiting consultants, designing the route and compulsorily purchasing the necessary land will take at least a year and a half.

Mr O’Gorman said they will move to tender and recruit consultants by summer 2026 and refine plans for the route. The council said it will accept any public submissions on the works until the end of 2025.

“You will see some works out there, hopefully this year, enabling works, fencing off works,” said Mr O’Gorman.

“It’s a huge amount of work and there are a lot of regulations. There are a lot of details to go through and a lot of environmental concerns as well.

“It’s good news for us as we’re moving forward and it’s a priority for Carlow Co Council. We’ll move as quickly as is possible.” 

As for the route the road is likely to take, Mr O’Gorman said: “I would be surprised if the route is not within (the original) corridors, but let’s see what the consultations and the assessments that the consultants are undertaking say.” 

The council plans by next summer to have an emerging preferred route within one of the 200m-wide corridors outlined, in time for the third public consultation. The actual route is likely to be about 80m wide, requiring about 50m of land taken from private owners.

When those plans emerge in mid-2026, “we’ll be contacting everybody potentially directly affected with that preferred route,” explained Mr O’Gorman.