Infrastructure
Waterford City is strategically situated on a number of critical and linking corridors which provide the City with excellent access to ports, airports and other major Cities throughout Ireland . A number of the links to Waterford City are being dramatically upgraded as part of massive infrastructural projects which will further enhance Waterford City 's accessibility.
The Waterford City Bypass, which cost €650m and includes a second river crossing, was completed well ahead of schedule and is operational since October. The Motorway (M9) linking Waterford City to the capital, Dublin, is also on target for completion in 2010. Public transport will also be improved with a €17m redevelopment of Waterford City's train station.
A €27.5m development plan for Waterford Airport will result in a runway extension to accommodate medium sized jets and will also open up new European destinations. In addition to regular flights to Luton, Manchester and Birmingham in the United Kingdom, a number of summer continental routes operate annually including Bordeaux (France), Amsterdam (Holland), Malaga (Spain), Faro (Portugal) and Lorient (France). Negotiations are ongoing for further routes. Plans for Waterford Airport also include an extension to the terminal building to accommodate increased passenger numbers which are expected to exceed 500,000 annually.
The Port of Waterford is one of the key international sea port connections for Ireland and is the second busiest container terminal in Ireland outside of Dublin . A recent investment of €10m to extend Waterford Container Terminal will see the port continue to grow its market share. The Port of Waterford is the only regional port outside of Dublin with a rail link running through the site offering a quay side railhead and giving direct access to the national rail network.
In 2008 a new Waste Water Treatment Plan was commissioned in Waterford City at a cost of €57m and will provide full secondary treatment for a population equivalent of 190,000. The completion of this plant coupled with a recent expansion in water supply has ensured that Waterford City has sufficient capacity to meet both the future economic and domestic needs of the City.
In terms of telecommunications, Waterford City has access to the broadband backbone network in the form of 15-80 Gbit/s Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and up to 2.5 Gbit/s Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH). The City has primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and > 34 Mbits. Waterford City also has Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching capability and deployment of a broadband Point of Presence (PoP) is planned for Waterford City.