Work is to finally begin on replacing a large section of watermain on the Courthouse Road in Fermoy, which will start on Monday next and take eight weeks. A Stop/Go system will operate for five of those weeks with a flagman positioned to ensure the operation runs smoothly. There’s likely to be considerable traffic congestion during the works, especially at peak times on what is a main artery into town and part of the N72 linking Cork and Kerry.

Members of the OPW and Lagan Construction, the contractor doing the works, met on Tuesday night this week in The Grand Hotel, with local business owners and residents to brief them on the works, what is entailed and how traffic will be managed for the duration. Letters were also sent out to local businesses and residents. Tuesday night’s meeting heard that the road from outside Lidl to the bypass flyover will also be raised during the works, as part of the flood protection plan to raise that section of the road to alleviate flooding.

LONGTERM GAIN

Councillor Noel McCarthy afterwards welcomed the fact that the Stop/Go system will only be in place for five of the eight weeks. He thanked the OPW and Lagan for facilitating the meeting and outlining the programme of works. He complimented them on their undertaking to facilitate local businesses as much as possible while works are ongoing. “These are vital works. I’d ask people to bear with the contractors and give themselves an extra 10 minutes or so to get to work or school on time while the works are in progress,” he said.

Cllr. Tadhg O’Donovan said he’s conscious of the fact that there will be hardship for motorists but he pointed out they’d waited years for the watermain to be upgraded and it meant that the local community hospital would finally be assured a proper water supply.

POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT

The Fermoy Business Action Group (FBAG) has welcomed the news that the work is to get underway. “We know that this is going to have further adverse impact on the town over the coming weeks, with traffic on this stretch of road being operated by way of traffic lights, however the works will ensure that the water supply to the hospital is once and for all repaired and that there should be no more roadworks on that section of road to repair the pipe. Also the flood relief works being undertaken will ensure that the constant floodiing taking place will be alleviated,” said FBAG PRO Adrian Godwin.