It will be 2032 before the long-awaited Tralee Flood Relief Scheme is in full operation.
That’s according to the latest projections for the project, which began two years ago.
Tralee experienced a flooding event in June of this year which was described by Kerry County Council management as a one-in-500 year event.
An update on the project was given to councillors at the recent Tralee Municipal District meeting.
The project is broken up into five stages; the first of these, identification and development of a preferred scheme, began in 2021 and is expected to continue until the middle of 2025.
Field works for the purposes of design of the scheme were completed in June this year, and the reports and datasets are under review by the consultant, RPS Group.
The hydrology report is complete, and a final hydraulics report is due in December.
Treatment was carried out on invasive alien plant species in infected areas in the spring, with another treatment ongoing this autumn.
A wintering/breeding bird survey is continuing for the rest of the year, while detailed ecological surveys for otters, badgers, bats, trees, aquatic and other habitat surveys are to take place next year.
The next public consultation day to discuss the initial scheme options emerging from the flood risk assessments is scheduled for November or December of this year.
The second stage of the project, planning and development consent processes, is due to begin in the middle of 2025, and the finalising of work packages and tenders for contracts will then go on from 2026 to late 2027.
The fourth stage of the project, the construction phase, is due to take place between 2027 and 2030, while the handover of works is expected to take another year approximately, seeing out the rest of 2031.
The project team says it continues to be available to discuss the project with interested members of the public and other stakeholders, with further details available on radiokerry.ie.
The project team can be contacted by email at [email protected]
Further details of the project are available on www.floodinfo.ie/traleefrs
