August 23, 2003
Connemarabahn
The Dublin-Galway motorway building programme has resumed. Landowners in Ballinasloe still don't know how much they will receive for their land, though the Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPOs) are about to be served. Recently, Minister Eamonn O Cuív was left speechless when he was asked why it was possible to design and build a freeway across 26 miles of swamp in Louisiana and yet, the roads in Connemara look..well.. like the rest of Connemara. Maybe he thought it was a rhetorical question.
Having driven across Louisiana, I think the main difference is that the Americans build bridges over the swamps, whereas in Ireland, we just slap a bit of tarmac over the existing terrain that is not that smooth to begin with. Taking into account that half of Connemara is a bog, building a road on top of it is literally a case of throwing money into a black hole.
Posted by Monasette at August 23, 2003 07:01 PM | TrackBack
true about Louisiana. We're also sinking, and being eroded away. Those bridges will be the only thing left in a few decades. Fools build their houses in dredged out marshes and swamps here and then cry about flooding during every mild thunderstorm. Americans might be better with the bridges, but that's the exception.
Posted by: badger at August 25, 2003 02:30 PMWe've got plenty of builders building on land that floods in winter. Never buy a house in summer...
/John
Posted by: John at August 25, 2003 10:49 PM