Trucks are ‘bypassing the bypass’ and driving through Fermoy so they can avoid tolls

A Fine Gael general election candidate has pledged that if he is elected he will press for a relief road in a North Cork town that suffers regular traffic congestion, despite being bypassed two decades ago.

The M8 Rathcormac/Fermoy bypass was opened in October 2006 by then transport minister Martin Cullen, with the promise that it would remove what was considered at the time to be “one of the country’s worst bottlenecks”.

When the bypass opened, Mr Cullen said it would remove 17,000 vehicles every day from Fermoy town centre.

However, with goods vehicles currently paying €4 and cars €2.30 on the tolled bypass, some locals say the lack of an untolled access route connecting Fermoy to and from the bypass has resulted in cars and trucks effectively bypassing the bypass to avoid tolls.

Despite local perceptions, Cork County Council told The Echo earlier this year that “current traffic volumes are nowhere near the levels that were experienced passing through the town prior to the opening of the M8 motorway”.

Fermoy-based Fine Gael county councillor Noel McCarthy is running for the party in Cork East in the upcoming election, and he has said the town needs a relief road and another bridge across the Blackwater.

The town currently has the two bridges, with the N72 Thomas Kent Bridge crossing the Blackwater in the centre of the town, and the new viaduct on the east of the town, which carries the M8 bypass.

“At peak times congestion of traffic is huge, it’s because we’re the only town that is tolled between here and Dublin,” Mr McCarthy said.

“If you use the motorway, you have to pay for the toll, which is totally wrong, totally unfair to people living in the town, to businesses in the town, I have said it, I have brought it to the senior level, hopefully it will be looked at again.

“But what we really need in Fermoy, I think, is a relief road, and that’s something, if I am elected, I will be fighting for, because another bridge crossing the river would be a huge asset for the town,” he said.

“If I am elected, that’s something I will bring to government level.”