Lough Atalia bridge works are put back to next year

Work on lowering the road at Lough Atalia bridge in Galway City has been put back until after Christmas.

Tobin Consulting Engineers, who have a Galway office, have been awarded the contract to carry out the work, which is expected to take two months.

The work was due to start this autumn with the intention of completing it by Christmas but it has now been decided to start the work mid January to be finished by St Patrick’s Day.

A Galway City Council spokesman said that the decision to put back the project until then was because of procurement timings to avoid it going on over Christmas.

It had initially been a Galway Harbour Company project but the Council is now overseeing it and are currently tendering for the construction work.

The Department of Transport has allocated €600,000 towards the €1.5million project, which has been on the cards for a number of years.

In the past, large lorries have struck and become stuck under the Lough Atalia Railway bridge, which dates back to the 19th century and is a protected structure.

As it is still a working railway bridge, it will not be touched during the work, though the road will be closed to traffic for much of the process.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel