Residents 'don't feel safe' driving through this road in Tipperary

Fears have been expressed about a dangerous road junction in Carrick-on-Suir that it’s claimed has the potential to cause a major accident.

Residents who live at Arrigan’s Boreen, just off the Clonmel Road a couple of kilometres from the town, don’t feel safe using the junction, Cllr Kieran Bourke told a meeting of Carrick Municipal District.

These residents include pensioners, young people and some farmers, and they were very concerned about a junction that they drove through on a daily basis.

These people were worried that “a huge accident” would occur there.

Cllr Bourke said you were talking about the main road from Limerick to Waterford and Rosslare, and the volume of traffic that used it was unbelievable. The residents were looking for the provision of a filter lane for traffic coming from the Clonmel direction and turning left.

The speed limit on that stretch was 100 kilometres per hour and motorists turning left were often overtaken as they waited to negotiate the junction, he said. Opposite them was a filter lane for turning right.

Trucks were also being sent in that direction by sat nav but they got caught at the bridge and had to turn around.

Cllr Bourke called on District Engineer Willie Corby to request that a road safety audit would be carried out on the road immediately, and get clarity on whether or not the junction was safe. He said that work had been carried out there some years ago at a huge cost.

District Engineer Willie Corby said that such issues didn’t tend to be addressed by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) unless there was a history of accidents or until a serious accident or a fatality occurred, although he understood that people would ask why they needed to wait until that happened.

He said he would refer the matter to the TII safety engineer, whom they met on a regular basis.

He said that you couldn’t have filter lanes at every single junction and he reminded motorists turning left to make sure to use their indicator, as he acknowledged that there was the potential for cars to be rear-ended.

Mr Corby also said that additional warning signs about the left-hand turn could be provided.

Meanwhile, Cllr Mark Fitzgerald said that a section of road outside Cloneen, on the Fethard Road, had completely subsided and was very dangerous. The hole was almost a foot deep and was particularly dangerous when it was full of rainwater.

Cllr Fitzgerald said there had been several accidents on the Cloneen-Fethard Road and road safety improvement works should be carried out at that section.

Cllr Imelda Goldsboro said that a number of roads in the Ballingarry area became impassable when there was heavy rain and flash flooding occurred. 

A number of estates in the district were looking for traffic calming measures. If there were active residents groups in estates should they provide the ramps themselves, she asked, adding that signs weren’t a deterrent to speeding traffic.

Cllr Kevin O’Meara said there was an issue with drains on the Callan road near Mullinahone, which caused difficulty for the gardens of some residents in the area. These drains needed to be cleared three or four times a year.

Chairman David Dunne said that as someone who lived in a housing estate he heard “every day of the week” about people looking for speed ramps. When they weren’t there, traffic tended to travel very quickly, he said.

The District Engineer said the council intended to put drainage works in place wherever there was flash flooding. The members should provide a list of locations where this occurred.

Mr Corby said he wouldn’t be in favour of residents installing speed ramps but the council members should submit a list of locations where they were being requested, and speed surveys could be carried out.

Ramps weren’t always the best solution for speeding traffic. Housing estates were meant to have narrow road layouts that would slow traffic, so that they didn’t need to be retro-fitted, he added.