Completing bypass of Cork town will be ‘particularly challenging’, warns senior council official  

Completing the long-awaited second phase of the Bandon bypass will be “particularly challenging”, Cork County Counci’s head of roads has warned.

The first section of the N71 bypass, which skirts the southern side of Bandon, was completed 35 years ago but stops at the junction with the Kilbrittain Rd. As a result, traffic between Cork City and West Cork is funnelled through parts of the town, contributing to increasing congestion on the N71 and on local roads linking the town centre and suburbs.

Pádraig Barrett, the council’s head of roads and transportation, admitted completing the southern bypass would be “particularly challenging” because of the difficulty in finding a route that is both “affordable and constructable”.

He made his comments after Bandon-based Fianna Fáil councillor Gillian Coughlan asked for an update on the proposed project.

“The Bandon bypass initially terminated close to the entrance to Presentation Convent School, with traffic having to funnel down ‘Warner’s Lane’. Eventually, the first phase was completed with traffic bypassing the town and connecting to the Kilbrittain Rd,” said Ms Coughlan.

Bypass extended

The second phase would see the bypass extend west through Clancool before rejoining the N71 near Bernard’s Bridge on the Clonakilty road, close to Keary’s Garage.

“This road was to carry the hundreds of HGVs that transport goods to and from the west on a daily basis. In 2016, I asked the roads department the status of the completion of the Bandon bypass. There was mild consternation, it had not been on any agenda for decades. 

"It was resurrected with scoping reports commissioned and public consultation on preferred route selection took place in 2022. The half-bypass remains,” Ms Coughlan said, adding that in the meantime, the town has “developed apace”, with multiple housing projects completed.

“That area is in dire need of a relief road. Due to the lack of enabling infrastructure on the southside, the town is stymied with regard to economic development”

Mr Barrett said the emerging preferred corridor has been identified and it is currently undergoing a peer group review by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) inspectors.

He said details would be provided to councillors once the process had been finalised and TII approval confirmed, which he expected in the next few months.

Plans are also being developed to ease congestion on the northern side of the town through a proposed distributor road, he said.