€120m road will have long term benefits – Tiernan

THE long term benefits of the proposed €120million distributor road linking South-East Clare with Limerick City will be seen by future generations, according to senior engineer Tom Tiernan.
Speaking to The Clare Champion, Mr Tiernan said Phase Two of the Northern Distributor Road is needed  to facilitate the future needs of the region.
Clare County Council’s senior engineer explained this new road will facilitate development, good quality connectivity and access to all opportunities that exist in South East Clare and North Limerick at present and into  the future.
He noted the traffic situation on the north side of Limerick City is different from rest of the city. “The road infrastructure from that area is more radial from Limerick City Centre. A lot of it isn’t good quality road infrastructure. It is quite restricted in some cases at particular times, you do have a deficit from a traffic capacity point of view, particularly at peak times, morning and evening.
“There are a series of local roads that link in with Corbally to where the road meets the old Limerick-Galway road at Coonagh.
“Right across the north side of Limerick City, you have a web of local roads. You have to access the city centre from that side of the city to go anywhere else and, as a result, access is relatively poor to and from that area to other key destinations,” he said.
He pointed out the purpose of the new route is not to provide direct access to the Clare campus of the University of Limerick. Instead, it would be designed to facilitate a wide range of prospective development in that area, including at UL and other educational and medical developments.
“UL is an example of one entity that has significant plans to expand its campus in County Clare and Clare County Council has a responsibility to facilitate that and the prospect of all of other opportunities across that general area.
“If we don’t plan for when the economy recovers, then we will be left behind because others are planning. We have to be in a position to avail of whatever opportunities arise when more capacity for provision of infrastructure comes back into the economy.
“The need for this road has been identified in a number of reports over the last decade, which identified the key elements of infrastructure that would be important for Limerick City and the region,” he said.
The Emerging Preferred Route for the Northern Distributor Road has prompted a huge level of concern and opposition from some residents in Parteen and Clonlara.
Mr Tiernan admitted he was a little surprised at the level of response the route has generated through the public consultation process.
“I am not surprised that there would be a negative response to a point because it is impossible to select a route for a piece of infrastructure as significant as this without upsetting some people and some communities.
“I know there are genuine reservations that people have expressed through the process. Hopefully, on foot of the submissions that people make, we will be able to make some adjustment to at least respond in a positive way to some of those concerns.
“Every submission and detail of every submission will be taken seriously and examined thoroughly before conclusions are reached as regards the acceptance of the preferred route corridor.”
Asked is it unusual to see a community like Parteen split in two, he noted, “I have heard that point being made that the route splits the village. I am not 100% sure that everyone agrees with that particular point of view. Yes, it does to some degree dissect Parteen, but from where I am looking from, I don’t think it is that dramatic.
“However, I do accept that people in the Parteen area see this as something that could have an adverse impact. Having said all that, I think this particular piece of infrasutructure can be incorporated so that any adverse impact would be minimal and the benefits would exceed any adverse impacts,” he stated.