Royal Canal Phase 4 in Dublin City — which runs from the Phibsborough Road to the city boundary at Ashtown — has been delayed due to the need to include an ESB high voltage transmission line.
The ESB infrastructure is part of the same power line upgrade which recently was reported would cause traffic disruption across large parts of Dublin.
The 4.3km Phase 4 of the greenway has been delayed a number of times.
Before construction recently started on Phase 3 of the Royal Canal Greenway, between the Phibsborough Road and North Strand Road, that section also suffered similar delays. A part of that project, between the Phibsborough Road and the Drumcondra Road, is expected to be opened by the end of this year.
On Phase 4, a Dublin City Council update report to councillors said: “Pre-Part 8 public consultation has commenced and is ongoing at this time. The need to incorporate ESB High Voltage Transmission infrastructure into the project has resulted in significant delays to the project. As a result, construction is now scheduled to commence in Q4 2023, pending amending Part 8 approval. In advance of the amending Part 8 submission, an ‘Otter Derogation Licence’ application was submitted to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) during this quarter.”
The report added: “A Ground Investigation Contractor has been appointed for the project with works are expected to commence in April 2023. A contractor has also been appointed to carry out kerbline alterations on BroomBridge Road to facilitate bus turning movements, works are expected to commence in April 2023.”
It will be interesting to see if the additional costs for the high voltage cables are lumped in with Greenway costs to inflate the Active Travel spend.