Skip to content

Galway Independent

Home arrow News arrow Local News arrow New temporary bridge in Leenane to be in place this week
New temporary bridge in Leenane to be in place this week E-mail
Written by Administrator   
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Construction is underway on a new temporary bridge to replace the bridge destroyed in flooding in Leenane last week and should be open to traffic by Friday, a local councillor has indicated.

The collapse of the bridge in Leenane on Wednesday last has considerably impacted on Leenane’s tourism trade and has left the village divided in two. The 100-year-old bridge was destroyed by floods during four hours of torrential rain.

“There is now an 80km detours now in place; you have to go to Ballinrobe to get to Westport, which is an awful inconvenience. It is having a huge effect on North Connemara. Now there was a footbridge put in place by Thursday evening, which was great and I have been told by the council that there will be a new temporary bridge put in place by the end of the week. The new bridge will be one-way with traffic lights and will hep ease the situation while a new bridge is designed,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Josie Conneely.

The bridge, which is on the main N59 link road between Clifden and Westport, carried almost all of the area's tourist traffic and was also used as a link for motorists between Galway and Mayo. This has caused considerable inconvenience for residents of Leenane and has hit the tourism trade in the area.

Peter Mantle of Delphi Cottages in Leenane said the company had received a number of cancellations over the last few days due to the bridge collapse.

“It is a bloody nuisance because people can’t get to us. There is a two-hour detour and some people can’t be bothered to make that journey. We have had a number of cancellations because of it. We had a group coming over who hadn’t heard about the collapse of the bridge and arrived in Leenane. It would have taken two hours to get here and they were exhausted after an overnight flight and they went somewhere else. It is very off putting. We have heard that a new bridge is to be in place by the end of the week, but promises promises!” he said. 

Councillor Conneely said that this collapse has been a further hindrance to an already flagging tourist industry in Connemara.

“Tourism has been hit by this. The tourist trade in the Connemara area has been in decline for the last number of years and this has worsened the situation even further. The roads in the area are very bad and bumpy and put people off from coming in this direction. All the infrastructure and roads need improving and with the bridge collapse, it is a disaster altogether. Hopefully now this new temporary bridge will help to get things back to normal.”
 


Comments (0) »		 feed
Show/Hide comment formtoggle


Write the displayed characters


busy
 
User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]

Volvo Ocean Race Official Updates
Should pit bulls be banned?