Council confirms road markings in relation to Dundalk-Carlingford Greenway

Louth County Council has confirmed that white markings on roads in the Cooley Peninsula are in relation to the proposed Dundalk Bay to Carlingford Greenway and were put there by consultants who are working on the project.

The matter was raised at the Louth County Council January meeting, where the Council was asked if the markings were anything to do with the proposed greenway.

Cllr Andrea McKevitt raised the matter, saying that people in the area had informed her that there was white markings on some of the roads on the Cooley Peninsula, that she said were at places that were on the route options for the Dundalk Bay to Carlingford Greenway.

Replying to Cllr McKevitt, Director of Service, Mr David Jones, confirmed that the white lines were in relation to the proposed greenway. Mr Jones said that the work was being carried out on public lands and roads by the consultants, and that the it was being carried sooner than they had hoped and ahead of time, hence the lack of opportunity to inform councillors and the local community that it was taking place.

Cllr Antóin Watters spoke on the matter a short time later at the January meeting, saying that it had caused “a bit of hysteria”, as there was “quite a significant break-in” in Bellurgan that weekend, and also an attempted break in in Ballagan the previous night, and a lot of people were worried that houses were being marked.

Cllr Watters said that, “I really think if we're doing stuff like that, we really need to be letting people know what's happening, because I had an awful lot of calls over the weekend on it." He added that if they were informed that it would be taking place then they could inform the local community.

Louth County Council has since shared more information on social media on the matter, saying that topographic surveys of the study area for the proposed greenwayare underway. 

"This survey is being undertaken", it said, "to determine ground levels throughout the study area, which are being carried out by drone, a standard methodology of aerial topographic survey. The surveyors and their equipment are licensed to undertake these surveys by the Irish Aviation Authority, and the data obtained will be processed in compliance with GDPR requirements with regards to anonymisation of data.

"The surveyors (Murphy Geospatial) will be working from west to east from Dundalk though to Carlingford, however, they may be required to undertaken surveys out of sequence at other locations for survey control. The drones used will generally be flying at a high level although will briefly be at lower levels when taking off and landing."

The Council added that the surveys are now on hold until 29th January due to adverse weather conditions and that following this, surveys are anticipated to last for a further week, subject to weather conditions.

It further added that more updates will be published on the project website in advance of the 29th January 2025 outlining the proposed locations and days these surveys will be undertaken. See https://www.dundalkcarlingfordgreenway.ie/ for the updates.