No compensation for businesses impacted by closure of Wexford bridge as council confirms safety plans for alternate routes

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Ahead of the eight-week closure of the Ferrymountgarrett Bridge outside New Ross, Wexford County Council (WCC) has confirmed that businesses affected by the closure will not be compensated for any loss of earnings.

Connecting south Kilkenny with New Ross and its hinterlands, the bridge will be closed from June 24 to August 28 to undergo rehabilitation works on a structure which was built in 1930. These works include involve structural repairs, drainage improvements, and resurfacing of the road and have been strategically aligned with the school holidays and to maximise day light efficiency. The works will continue through the weekends.

As a result, those who would ordinarily travel back and forth across the bridge will have to use alternative routes, some of which will add significant times to journeys.

Fearing that Kilkenny residents who regularly go to New Ross to do their shopping will go elsewhere once the bridge is closed, Councillor Michael Sheehan has repeatedly asked whether impacted businesses will receive compensation during this eight-week period. However, at the June meeting of WCC, Chief Executive Eddie Taaffe dealt with this query in no uncertain terms.

“Can we have an air of reality here?” he suggested. “We have two choices: we can let the bridge collapse and have it out of commission for years, or we can do our job and maintain it. There is no compensation under current legislation for this, nor should there be.”

Separately, Cllr John Fleming raised concerns about the impact of increased traffic on roads not designed for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

“There’s going to be a lot of traffic diverted as a result of this bridge closure, including a lot of lorries whose drivers won’t be used to these roads,” he said. “Did Kilkenny County Council and WCC inspect those alternate routes to ensure they were capable of accommodating this traffic?

“At the moment, lorries have to pull in to the side of the road to let cars through. This could end up causing an accident.”

Confirming that every effort had been made to ensure safe passage for motorists, Mr Eamonn Hore, Director of Roads, said his colleagues in Kilkenny had carried out a “quite detailed” traffic management safety plan.