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Green light for €2.9m Cockhill
bridge
18.07.11
by Caoimhinn Barr, Inishowen Independent
COCKHILL Bridge looks set for a €2.95 million
facelift after Donegal County Council confirmed it
is set to appoint a consultant to carry out
preliminary design work on the long-awaited project.
Nine consultants submitted for tenders with five of
those deemed suitable last week by the council. It
is expected a chief designer will be appointed in
the next three months with work on the bridge likely
to be completed inside five years.
With funding for a consultant already in place, the
council will seek to secure additional EU money to
begin upgrade works on the ageing structure.
Welcoming the news, Buncrana Town Mayor Nicholas
Crossan said the issue has been a ‘hot topic’ for
many years. |
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“Cockhill Bridge is the
gateway to Inishowen and it must be our top
priority. We need to ensure that there is a
political decision taken from here on in to
prioritise this project because it has gone on and
on and on,” he said.
Fine Gael councillor John Ryan welcomed the Cockhill
development.
“At long, long, long last it looks |
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Cockhill bridge, Buncrana. |
like we may be in a
position to start work on this bridge, which is
paramount to attract investment into Inishowen. This
issue has been on the agenda a lifetime but it
appears to be further down the line now,” he said.
“I have only been on the council for two years but
the Cockhill Bridge seems to come up at every month;
this is the first meeting in which we’ve made
significant progress,” Cllr. Ryan added.
Councillors Bernard McGuinness and Mickey Doherty
were similarly upbeat.
“The fact that we are in a position to carry out
preliminary design work is welcome progress.
Cockhill Bridge has been one of our major projects
here in Inishowen and it is going in the right
direction,” McGuinness said.
“I’m very satisfied that we appear to be moving
forward. All the councillors are one hundred per
cent behind this project and this is the first
glimpse of light we’ve seen,” Cllr. Doherty added. |
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