Focus On: Trooperslane Park & Ride

Title: Trooperslane Park & Ride

Principal Contractor: FP McCann Ltd.

Designers & Project Management: Tetra Tech

Description: The aim of the project, was to provide a park & ride facility to the adjacent Trooperslane Railway Halt, situated on the main Belfast to Larne rail link, between the towns of Carrickfergus and Greenisland. The park & ride carpark accommodates 212 cars, including 10 disabled spaces, with CCTV Cameras and SMART lighting and is accessed from the Trooperslane Road with a new right turn lane being constructed, also 2 separate footway accesses have also been provided to access directly from the car park onto the adjacent platform. The site has been future-proofed to allow the easy provision and installation of electric vehicle charging points to help progress Zero Emission ambitions.

The existing site was a green field site that had been previously overgrown, with an existing open ditch to the rear of the existing footpath. The site was cleared of all vegetation under the supervision of an ecologist, which included the excavation and removal of Horsetail, a native invasive plant species. To prevent the regrowth of the Horsetail through the carpark make-up a root barrier membrane was laid.

The existing open ditch was culverted through the full length of the site to accommodate the new carpark entrance and road widening, tying into existing culverts at both the inlet and outfall locations. Part of the drainage design involved the construction of 2nr Storm Attenuation Tanks, each with a storage volume of 250m3 per tank, these tanks are located beneath the new carpark surface.