This article is from page 6 of the 2006-04-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
CLARE County Council have until September to find an permanent road to reroute heavy goods traffic accessing the town of Kilrush.
The Kilrush Area members of the council passed a motion at a special meeting putting pressure on the executive to find a ring road around the growing town within months.
County Engineer and Director of services Tom Carey told the meeting which included members of the town council and the HGV Action group, that it would take at least nine months after the constraints study was completed before work began on the route.
“The idea of the by-pass in Kilrush is to link the N67 with the N68. That would suggest it would be a national link,” he told the meeting.
He said that council would have to push the boat out and bring the project to an advanced stage before approaching the National Roads Authority for funding.
“It is a fact of life that heavy commercial vehicles go through residental areas all over the country,” he said.
Councillor Madeleine TaylorQuinn proposed that a permanent route should be decided by the end of September for the Ring Road.
“Unless we set ourselves a target it will continue to be on the long finger,’ she said.
Residents in High Street, Chapel Drive, Griffin Road, Lower Moore Street, Crawford Street and by St Senan’s Terrace and John Paul Estate have been campaigning for an alternative route for HGVs going through the highly residental areas on the way to the ESB station at Moneypoint.
The residents say they have been living with the heavy traffic for more than 26 years, and the current Retrofit project at the Moneypoint site is adding to the traffic chaos.
Senior Executive Engineer Andy Price reminded the residents that traffic calming measures for the affected are at planning stage.
“We have done a lot of work, we are not just sitting on our hands,” he said.