£500,000 Warrenpoint to Omeath bridge was proposed 50 years ago


According to declassified files which have just been released a proposal to build a bridge linking Warrenpoint and Omeath was given consideration 50 years ago.
And the total cost would have been just £500,000, with £200,000 of that funding coming from Northern Ireland.
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Hide AdBut it has emerged that the idea did not get off the ground as officials did not believe that the funding would be made available.
The declassified files show that a report, entitled ‘Schemes for new roads and bridges across the Northern Ireland /Eire border’, had been prepared by the Department of the Environment in response to a proposal from Louth County Council for a bridge.
Along with a map showing the area of the proposed bridge, a cover letter states that "the estimated cost to N Ireland is £200,000".
It adds: "Fifteen hundred vehicles per day as the maximum summer usage is probably a reasonable estimate.
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Hide Ad"The winter usage could exceed the 250 stated and would probably be around 1,000 especially if a high percentage of the Carlingford Omeath traffic used the crossing to take advantage of the dual carriageway to Newry.
"Traffic on the existing Newry to Omeath road would probably drop on the length from Narrow Water to Newry.
"At present I cannot see money being available for this work.
"It is a proposal which is most attractive from a tourist point of view and is worthy of further consideration in the future."
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Hide AdIt is revealed in a more detailed report that the overall cost of the bridge was likely to be around £500,000, adding that the proposed site is "the most southerly location clear of the Warrenpoint harbour and industrial sites".
In relation to the impact on tourism tourism of the proposed bridge, the report continues: "There might be little Northern usage of such a link since the main car trip passes through Newry in any case.
"Only a small percentage of the Mourne tourist trip is 'round Ireland ' and of that only a proportion might wish to use the bridge in preference to bypassing the scenery Warrenpoint/Newry/Omeath which is itself as unique as much of the traditional Mourne circuit.
"Perhaps 200 trips per day summer.
"In all perhaps the maximum daily number usage might be in the order of about 1000-1500 with this falling to less than 250 in the winter."
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Hide AdThe report concludes: "The likely usage appears to be too low to justify participation in such inessential expenditure, especially in the current financial scene and the competing work of infinitely greater necessity in Newry.
"If Louth County Council wish to pursue the idea of a Omeath/Warrenpoint link, perhaps they should examine the possibility of introducing a car ferry.
"The Northern contribution to such a venture could perhaps be the provision of a slipway at Warrenpoint - commercial risk and profits (if any) to Louth County Council."
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