Important new relief road in Offaly gets the go-ahead

AN important new relief road in Birr has been given the go-ahead, the December meeting of Offaly County Council was told.

Chief Executive Anna Marie Delaney told the meeting that the contracts for the Northern Distributor Road have been signed “and the construction work will start in early 2025.”

Councillors have pointed out in recent months that Birr is suffering badly from daily traffic jams. It's hoped that the new Distributor Road, which will run from Tullamore Road, past Lidl and the Gaelscoil, and emerge on the Banagher Road, will go some way to alleviating the problem.

The proposed South-Eastern Distributor Road will take longer to realise. It's envisaged that the South Distributor should be completed within the lifetime of the Council, before the local elections in 2029.

The Council is also proposing to create a bypass to ease the terrible traffic congestion which has been afflicting Birr for a long time. The northern distributor is only 370 metres in length but it should improve the congestion a bit, particularly during the periods when cars are dropping off or collecting pupils from St Brendan's Community School. The Council had previously been aiming to begin the works in 2023 or 2024.

During a recent meeting of Birr Municipal District the Councillors were shown a map which depicted the route of the proposed South-Eastern Distributor Road and how this road will connect to the Northern part of the town near the Northern Distributor Road. The South-Eastern will run from the Tesco Roundabout, past the Primary Care Centre until it reaches the Syngefield Road near the Syngefield Industrial Estate. It's then proposed to construct a Bypass running through green fields to the east of the town and swinging around to join the Tullamore Road not far from Lidl.