RPS working stronger together on the Donabate Distributor Road

RPS is delighted to see the opening of the Donabate Distributor Road (North Dublin). This important piece of infrastructure is designed to alleviate local traffic issues and open up land for development on the peninsula. It is the first project under Rebuilding Ireland’s Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund to reach construction stage.

The new 4km road provides alternative access to Portrane, eastern parts of Donabate and improved connectivity to the National Forensic Mental Hospital. Our transport and water teams collaborated to deliver this project which will improve the lives of many local residents, reduce commuting times and support development of planned housing and education facilities.

We were appointed design consultant to Fingal County Council. We were responsible for full road design of the scheme including: 

• Road alignment,
• Traffic modelling,
• Pedestrian walkways and cyclepaths, and
• An extensive environmental impact assessment.

The design development process included extensive consultations with Iarnród Eireann, landowners, developers, and the local planning department.

Our scheme design included a new bridge over the Dublin – Belfast railway in consultation with Iarnród Eireann. The building of this bridge over the railway line was a major engineering project according to Fingal County Council Senior Engineer Paul Carroll.

“The Railway crossing was built over a number of nights to avoid disruption to the mainline rail services. A number of large concrete beams were lifted into place when railway possession was taken from midnight to 6am. It was constructed by our contractor MEIC Limited and supervised by Fingal County Council and RPS Consulting Engineers. The bridge provides a second route on the peninsula over the railway line and we recently received planning permission for a third bridge, located within Donabate village, which will be for pedestrians and cyclists and on which design work is well advanced.”

We were also appointed by Irish Water to deliver water services as part of the development. The water and wastewater infrastructure included:

• >2,000m of rising main (110mm – 315mm diameter)
• 2,000m of gravity sewer (300/450/525mm diameter)
• 4,000m of water main (400/450mm diameter) and
• 2,600m of water main (450mm diameter)

Currently we are helping Irish Water deliver a pumping station which will be the final part of the infrastructure for the area. 

The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, AnnMarie Farrelly, said:

“I am really pleased to see the opening of the Donabate Distributor Road as it gives Donabate and the peninsula a new route into the peninsula so alleviating all that traffic that been causing a problem in recent times. It also will allow us to open up some housing land which will see new and much needed homes delivered in the Fingal and Donabate area and I expect to see major progress on that in the coming months.”

The Donabate Distributor Road is part of the Donabate Local Area Plan 2016-2022 which is designed to deliver social and physical infrastructure to the area in order to create sustainable communities. As well as a phased delivery of a wide range of house types and sizes, there are also plans for the development of a local centre and recreational facilities including the Donabate Recreation Hub, the Broadmeadow Greenway and the Corballis Nature Park.

Video courtesy of Fingal County Council