(Press release Transport Infrastructure Ireland:) Dublin, 7 October 2019 - Minister for Education and Skills, Joe McHugh T.D., and Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, Cllr. Nicholas Crossan, will officially open the €18.7 million N56 Coolboy to Kilmacrennan Scheme on Monday afternoon at 2pm.
The 3.1km scheme, which has seen the removal of the notorious ‘Blue Banks’ bends, is a key transport corridor to the north west of Donegal including Glenveagh National Park, Donegal Airport and the Gaeltacht.
Alongside the new road, a 2 metre shared footway/cycle track has been created on both sides of the road and it is hoped that this new shared track will be extended to Letterkenny.
The delivery of this scheme is the culmination of over 8 years work by the Donegal National Roads Office and is a continuation of the N56 Mountaintop to Illistrin project completed in 2009. The original road had a narrow carriage way, no significant verge and a number of poorly aligned junctions, accesses and entrances. The new scheme has seen the widening and realignment to a 7 metre carriageway with hard strips and verges.
In collaboration with this project, Irish Water constructed a new trunk watermain and distributor water mains serving Letterkenny and its environs adjacent to and along the N56.
Works on this scheme commenced in January 2018 and took 18 months to complete. BAM Civil Ltd was the main contractor, RPS Consulting Engineers were the Designer and construction works were supervised on behalf of Donegal County Council by Barry Transportation. The Project was managed on behalf of Donegal County Council by the National Roads Office in Donegal Town.