New €100 million West Donegal road, walkway and cycleway to open soon

In what should be one of the most exciting ever road developments in West Donegal,  the new 28km (17m) road, walk, and cycleway between Dungloe and Glenties is nearing completion.

Once finished it will not only radically improve travel between these two major towns but will also provide exciting opportunities for tourism and the environment in this area.

We all know or have heard about the infamous N56 route which runs from Donegal Town to Letterkenny passing through Mountcharles, Dunkineely, Ardara, Glenties, Dungloe, Gortahork, Falcarragh, Dunfanaghy, Creeslough and Kilmacrennan including the majority of the county’s Gaeltacht areas.

Much of the road is a legacy route with critical deficiencies including poor vertical and horizontal alignment and a narrow cross-section. To say it provides challenges would be the understatement of the year.

A rock crusher and screening machines in the Borrow Pit near the Owenamarve river just opposite Coillte land

However, the construction of the new road  has defied a recession, and a Covid outbreak, not to mention the physical hurdles to become an integral part of the county's ever-improving infrastructure and one of the biggest investments in this area to date.

Prior to any work, the section between Dungloe and Glenties fell well short of the standard expected for a national route characterised by sharp twists such as Meenacarn bends (2km) and Gweebarra bends (5.2km) sections which were particularly problematic. The nature of the road also had implications for the safety of pedestrians.

Gallery: Charity tractor run raises funds for Copany Rovers FC

Wet weather fails to spoil a great day in Donegal Town

It must also be remembered that this stretch was mainly a bog rampart road and features such as hard strips, shoulders, or verges were rarely present. This forced large vehicles to keep speeds very low to reduce the risk of toppling off the road edge.

The geology in the region consists of a mostly granite bedrock, overlain with thin layers of glacial deposits overlain with a blanket bog. In many instances peat deposits were too deep to make excavation a viable option, further adding to the complexity and costs of improvement works.

Funding

Historically, funding for improvements on the majority of the N56 has been confined to pavement strengthening and minor widening but in 2009, following analysis of traffic on the N56, Donegal County Council applied to the National Roads Authority (NRA) - now Transport Infrastructure Ireland, (TII) to develop the section from Dungloe to the R262 junction at Kilraine south of Glenties as a pilot project.

The completed Owenamarve Bridge section of the new road

It has been developed based on Type 3 Single Carriageway design philosophy which is to focus in the first instance on online widening resorting to fully offline works only where online widening is not feasible. It will also have a separate cycleway along the entire length.

In technical terms, this means it includes a 6.0m carriageway with 0.5m hard strips and verges. Included in the works is a 2.0m wide shared footway/cycle track on one side of the new road separate from the main carriageway, catering to all vulnerable road users, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The NRA subsequently confirmed the N56 Dungloe to Glenties (Kilraine) Road Scheme as a 28km (17m approx) long pilot project for this road type. It is one of four similar pilot projects being developed nationally in close consultation with the National Roads Authority and the design teams working on the other three pilot projects. 

The scheme starts to the south of Dungloe at the Little Bridge and continues in a general southerly direction passing through Leitirmacaward and Glenties to terminate at the R262 Regional Road junction at Kilraine, south of Glenties.

The project is fully funded by TII and is included in the published Capital Plan ‘Building on Recovery 2016 – 2021’, with a budget of €100m.

Objectives 

The priority for this scheme is to improve this section of the N56.

In turn, it was felt it would address inadequacies of the existing route with respect to fitness for purpose to better serve the local community and visitors as well as improve safety by addressing the narrow cross-section and poor alignment of this section of N56. 

The upgrading also aims to provide designed overtaking sections within the scheme leading to an increased level of service and reduced journey times which will be of benefit to the general economic development of West Donegal.

The provision of a combined cycleway/footway along the scheme is compatible with the Government policy and will, it is hoped, encourage a shift to more sustainable transport modes and provide a valuable recreation/tourist amenity. 

The final surface course is due to be laid this month. It is anticipated that the new N56 road will be fully open to traffic in the fourth quarter of this year.