The N22 dual carriageway extends 22km from the eastern side of Macroom town to the western side of Baile Bhuirne and this project represented a major upgrade on this arterial route between Ireland’s southern counties of Cork and Kerry.
Egis – JB Barry was appointed in 2019 as Contractor’s Lead Designer and Site Design supervision support to the contractor for this four-year design & build project.
This was a complex project, with multiple stakeholders, delivered in the face of major unforeseen challenges including the covid pandemic and restrictions on the construction industry. The project saw over 300 construction staff working on-site at peak times, and as lead designer Egis Barry’s team undertook full management of all stakeholder inputs. This was achieved by creating a strong collaborative working process including all sub-consultant designer inputs for elements like landscape, environmental planting and public lighting. The team collaborated with inputs from independent third-party design review organisations, stakeholders and contractor’s suppliers into the design.
The route required crossings of four rivers – the Bohill, the Foherish, the Laney, and the Sullane. Particular consideration of environmental factors was required at the River Bohill including natural habitats for protected species including freshwater pearl mussel, otter, lesser horseshoe bat, salmonid and the Kerry slug. A 110kV powerline within a 5-metre distance of Bohill river bridge presented a further challenge, as did maintaining local road access throughout construction.