The proposed Foynes to Limerick Road (including Adare Bypass) is 35km in length and will provide a motorway upgrade from Attyflin to Rathkeale, in addition to connecting the port of Foynes to the motorway network. For the project Murray & Associates, led by Mark Boyle, were responsible for assessment of landscape & visual effects throughout the project. The project team leaders were Roughan & O’Donovan – AECOM Alliance Consulting Engineers and the client was Limerick City & County Council.
The landscape of this region in south-west Ireland lies between the Silvermines mountain range to the south and the Shannon Estuary. It is predominantly rural and pastoral; productive farmland dominated by fields divided by hedgerows and trees. Generally low-lying and undulating, the area includes five substantial rivers and there are several small lakes. Most of the hedgerows in the study area are mature and contain considerable numbers of mature parkland trees, some forming substantial treelines in the landscape. There are also pockets of scrub vegetation and woodland throughout the area, as well as individual parkland trees in fields. The mature trees are a strong feature of this landscape and include both native and non-native parkland trees, and several old demesne landscapes.
Progressing through the stepwise refinement process of increasingly detailed studies and assessments, the project commenced in 2014 with a Constraints Study of the wider region within which the proposed project sits. It was followed by a Route Selection Study which resulted in selection of the preferred route. Murray & Associates authored Chapter 11 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) – ‘The Landscape’ – which involved the assessment of the landscape and visual effects of the proposed road development and the identification of proposed landscape and visual mitigation measures. GIS-based technologies were utilised in the assessment, and verified photomontages were prepared to assist the assessment. Mark Boyle attended the Oral Hearing in February 2021 and presented the Brief of Evidence for ‘The Landscape’.
Protection and conservation measures were prioritised, and substantial compensatory measures where needed to offset potentially negative effects. Whilst it was unavoidable that the proposed road will contrast with the existing countryside so will generate some negative landscape impacts, overall, after the new planting, ponds, management proposals and other specific landscape measures proposed for mitigation of negative effects establish and help to integrate the proposed road and structures, it was concluded that this is a slight negative impact in the wider landscape context.
All in all, greater areas of native hedgerow, woodland and various habitat types will be instated following the completion of the road than are currently in the landscape. Specific and innovative measures were proposed in collaboration with project ecologists to protect Barn Owls – tall planting to either side of the carriageway of the new road to prevent collisions and fatalities to this magnificent species of raptor. In areas where excavation of rock was proposed in the scheme it was proposed to use these areas to provide additional native planting for carbon sequestration to offset potential environmental effects.
