Driving to Donegal last week I came across a few surprises of interest to anyone who drives to Donegal occasionally. First the new road through Sligo has opened. While it wasn’t rush hour I reckon that I got through Sligo much quicker than previously – no longer do you pass Horkan’s Garden Centre at the top of the hill. The only black mark was a ludicrous 50km/h speed limit on the two-lane section heading down to the first roundabout. Of course it eventually lands you at the lower bridge across the Garavogue and from there you continue along the road to Bundoran past Yeat’s Grave and Grange beneath Ben Bulben and dodgy FM radio signal beneath the transmitter.

Listening to the new Ocean FM, which now has the licence once held by MNWR, the DJ was going on about Bundoran’s new roundabouts. One at either end - he said – Bundoran's getting very posh - he said, before going on to warn about an oil spill that was running down the main street. (Hard to beat local radio eh?).

Bundoran is finally being bypassed! Finally indeed - after 20 years! Bundoran Inc had refused point blank to allow a bypass 20 years ago when it was first mooted. No one would stop to play the one-arm bandits they felt and so the council voted it down. They cut off their nose to spite their face and anyone trying to drive through Bundoran during the summer months knows what I mean. The very tourists and visitors that the town relies on have to queue up simply to cross the road just like residents of Clonard or Kinnegad coping with a continuous stream of cars. A traffic disaster in other words. So driving the wrong way around the half-completed roundabout I could see that already there is a long stretch of completed tarred road just on the other side of the Drowes River at the Sligo end of Bundoran. Another roundabout at the Ballyshannon/Finner end of Bundoran and a slip road to the new bypass.

Then crossing the Erne in Ballyshannon I glimpsed a brand new bridge under construction downstream of Cathleen Falls so it looks like the new road will bypass Ballyshannon as well as Bundoran. I stopped and took a couple of photos even though it was getting dark with lights reflected from the tailrace waters. Apparently they found 1200 bodies in the archaeological dig on the south bank of the Erne in 2003 and changed the route of the road slightly to accommodate the old church ruins uncovered. It’s not due to be completed until Q3 2006 as the NRA puts it but it looks like it may be ahead of schedule. So if you are travelling from Castlebar to Donegal or Letterkenny, for example, your trip time will be significantly shortened from Q3 2006.

The end of the Bundoran Ballyshannon bypass