Delay denied as salt barns get green light

Clare County Councillors have voted to dispose of land to the National Roads Authority (NRA) for the provision of a new salt barn near the Ennis bypass, despite a request to delay this transfer to facilitate a redesign of a nearby junction.

The NRA is planning to provide a series of maintenance depots throughout the motorway network, which will be used to facilitate maintenance of the network.
Clare County Council has assisted the authority in this strategy by granting a Part Eight planning for a proposed depot to be located on lands at Knockanean at the junction of the Tulla Road and M18 National Route, known as Junction 13.
These lands were originally acquired by Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) as part of the N18 Ennis bypass scheme and are registered by the council. The purchase of these lands was fully funded by the authority.
In a recent letter to the council, the NRA requested the council to support a proposal for the disposal of 5.89 acres of the property associated with the Part Eight-approved scheme to the authority in accordance with Section 183 of the 2000 Planning and Development Act.
This proposal generated some heated debate at a recent council meeting, where the proposal was eventually passed by 14 votes to 12 with two abstentions, following opposition from Fine Gael councillors.
The main item of contention related to a request from Councillor Johnny Flynn to address design issues at Junction 13, on health and safety grounds, as a matter of urgency.
Concern has been expressed in the past about the absence of a proper slipway or ramp for motorists coming from the Shannon direction and those exiting out on the Gort Road section of the motorway.
These concerns intensified in 2009 when a 72-year-old woman was killed near the junction after she unwittingly drove the wrong way down the Ennis bypass.
Despite the erection of additional signage by the NRA, Councillor Flynn argued this is an ideal opportunity for the council to request an engineering assessment for a re-design of this junction. The Fine Gael councillor believes motorists don’t have enough road to decelerate from 120kph to about 30kph to take a 90-degree bend at Junction 13 exiting out on to the Tulla Road.
Councillor Flynn proposed two new slipways could be built on the southern and western side of the junction to provide a proper distance to decelerate when linking with the Tulla Road exist and accelerating from 30kph to 100kph for vehicles heading in the Gort direction.
He also argued there is enough land available to facilitate the re-design of this junction and the construction of the salt barns.
He was supported by Councillor Joe Arkins, who asked the county manager Tom Coughlan if the council’s road design team could take a look at the junction.
However, Mr Coughlan explained that he couldn’t just ask the road design team to drop everything to examine this junction.
Councillor Arkins asked if the council road design team could take a “pre-emptive look” at the junction.
Mr Coughlan replied the design team doesn’t take a “pre-emptive” look at any road junction and would have to carry out a proper assessment, if it was requested to do so.
He insisted the council doesn’t have the money to carry out an engineering assessment for a re-design and following a vote, a majority of councillors supported the proposed transfer without the requested assessment.