In Ireland, the port city of Cork has appointed Atkins, part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, to lead the N40 Ten T Transport Infrastructure Improvement project.
Atkins, a professional services and project management organisation, will be lead technical advisor to Cork City Council on the project to upgrade the 15.5km N40 urban ring road, a strategic route through the city.
The N40 experiences significant congestion and unreliable levels of service during peak periods. The stretch for improvement encompasses 11 junctions and runs between the Dunkettle Interchange to the east of Cork City and the Poulavone Junction (N22) to the south west of Cork City.
Atkins’ associate director, John O’Donovan, said the N40 Ten T Improvement was an important win for Atkins. “It is a great multi-disciplinary win [for Atkins] that will include concept design, feasibility and option selection.”
John Stapleton, Senior Engineer at Cork City Council, said Cork is set to experience significant population and economic growth from now up to 2040 as referenced in Project Ireland 2040, the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan. “The N40 Ten T Transport Infrastructure Improvement… is an essential piece of transport infrastructure, providing much needed connectivity around Cork City.”
Atkins will identify and assess design solutions along the network, including the 11 grade-separated junctions. This will take into account the scheduled completion of the Dunkettle Interchange (J11) Upgrade Scheme, which is expected to have an impact on traffic flow.
The scope of work over the next 18 months by the Atkins Cork office, with support from specialists from its UK home-base, includes identifying the impact on the N40 of the scheduled completion of the committed Dunkettle Interchange Upgrade Scheme. Atkins will assess the deficiencies of the existing N40 Transportation Corridor and identify potential solutions to existing problems.
In addition to making the improvements to enable better traffic flow, Atkins will also deploy its Carbon Assessment Tool to calculate the carbon impact of the various transport options being considered.
The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a European Commission policy directed for the implementation and development of a Europe-wide network of roads, railways, inland waterways, maritime shipping routes, ports, airports and railroad terminals. The TEN-T Roads Network includes motorways and high-quality roads, whether existing, new or to be adapted, which play an important role in long-distance traffic across Europe.
Atkins is currently working on the Cork City Northern Transport Project which includes a new strategic northern corridor around Cork City.
Atkins also recently won a major contract to oversee maintenance of 844km of Ireland’s motorway and dual carriageway network, under the second generation of the Motorway Contracts Audit and Administration Services, MCAAS-2. Atkins will procure supervision, monitoring, audit, design, technical, advisory and asset management services for greater Dublin and the eastern seaboard area, as well as Cork and south/south-east Ireland. Additional specialist support for the likes of sustainability, energy efficiency and pavement and road safety design will also be provided.
