Work on the construction of the boardwalk on Mallow Bridge is not expected to be finished until much later this year, which means that the path under the bridge will be closed to pedestrians for several months. The sudden closure of the path in the past couple of weeks has been the subject of controversy, with many locals complaining that they now have to leave the park and go via Mallow Castle if they want to continue walking towards Lovers’ Leap. Several councillors raised the matter at last week’s meeting of Mallow Municipal District, saying that the castle walk had been a lifesaver for many during the Covid-19 lockdown, but they were told that the closure was a matter of health and safety for the duration of the boardwalk construction.
Cllr. Gearóid Murphy asked that a path be laid from opposite Tesco to the river path and that scaffolding be put in place under the bridge to allow people to walk safely to the castle walk side of the river.
Senior Roads Engineer Jim Moloney said that he would ask the contractor if a way could be found to continue work and keep the path open, though he did not think this would be feasible.
Work on the boardwalk began in September 2018 and was originally expected to be completed by late last Summer, but complications arose and the date was pushed back to this summer. Covid-19 then intervened and the job is now expected to continue until the final quarter of 2020.