Posted online: Sep 17th, 2009

Considerable traffic disruption is likely for the next ten weeks in the Letterkenny area due to work on the laying of a multi-million euro hi-tech communications cable.
It’s all part of the Kelvin Project, a €30 million cross-border scheme that will assist existing businesses – and help to attract new ones in the future.
The new cable will link Armagh, Ballymena, Belfast, Coleraine, Londonderry, Omagh, Portadown, Strabane, Letterkenny, Castleblayney, Dundalk, Drogheda and Monaghan to Europe and North America.
According to Hibernia Atlantic, who specialise in such projects, work began on the Lifford to Letterkenny road (N14) and Bridge End to Letterkenny road (N13) on Monday and will also involve Letterkenny town centre.
This will cause some disruption to traffic using these areas. Construction will continue for approximately 10 weeks.
“This build will add additional and much needed capacity to this region to further support both local and global commerce,” explained Derek Bullock, Vice President of Network Operations of Hibernia Atlantic.
“The secure and diverse cable footprint and the increased bandwidth capacity are attractive to local companies, who can now increase their business communications and next-generation Internet service offerings (such as streaming video and video conferencing), as well as increase their access to a marketplace of available service providers.
Project Kelvin is a joint initiative between Department of Communications and Natural Resources (DCENR) for Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment (DETI) for Northern Ireland and is partly funded through the EC INTERREG IVA programme.
KNN and KPL are the main contractors working in Donegal on behalf of Hibernia Atlantic.