Hydrologist may be hired to oppose distributor road

RESIDENTS opposing a proposed distributor road costing an estimated €120 million are considering hiring a hydrologist to prepare a case to An Bord Pleanála.
Members of the Concerned Northern Distributor Road Group are already fundraising to prepare for a planning “battle” when the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor is being considered by the appeals’ board.
Group chairman Ed English has admitted it is unlikely the council would make a major change to the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor, which has been selected.
While the group is fully engaging in the public consultation process and had lodged a detailed submission, Mr English expected they would be in a better position to make changes when the appeals’ board is considering the road.
Details of the group’s extensive campaign to date was outlined at a public meeting attended by about 50 people in Parteen on Tuesday night. It was attended by Limerick East Fine Gael Deputy Kieran O’Donnell and Councillor Cathal Crowe. Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald was unable to attend due to a prior engagement.
The group are planning a sponsored walk in June as part of ongoing efforts to raise funds.
Meanwhile, the group has outlined several reasons why it believes the new road should not be built.
In its submission, the group claims there is no demand or need for a new distributor road and no evidence to support building further infrastructure.
“The preferred route will provide a bypass to the north of Limerick City. There is no doubt that this will become a preferred route for motorists, thus avoiding the tunnel to the south, which is tolled at present. This will lead to more subsidies for the existing Limerick Tunnel.
“Current evidence suggests the Limerick tunnel is already under utilised as14,400 cars a day are currently using the tolled road versus 19,400 that were expected.
“Subsidies of €4.45 million were paid in 2011 with total payments to date reaching €6.31m.
“Due to economic conditions, traffic levels are below projections on many Irish roads. If the plans for Phase II of the North Distributor Road are based on data and surveys conducted during the boom, then we believe this data is inadequate and needs to be updated,” the submission stated.
The group warned the preferred route would split the village of Parteen and Ardnacrusha isolating residents from key community resources and structures such as school, church and community facilities. Parteen will be similarly cut off from community structures in Ardnacrusha such as the post office, shops, butchers, petrol and mechanical services and gardening.
It noted Parteen National School has grown from 48 students in 1973 to 340 in 2011. The majority of students attending Parteen National School are from the Ardnacrusha area and hence would be separated from the school by the proposed dual carriageway.
“The proposed 100m wide dual carriageway through a village and the hinterland of Clonlara raises huge safety concerns across all the communities concerning speed of traffic, pedestrian, walking, cycle paths and the safety of families and children on the route.
“Such a route through all the communities could potentially take students away from our local national school in favour of city schools, thus impacting on the future viability of each national school on the route,” it noted.
The group pointed out the proposed route convergence point cuts through an area of conservation, which is the only designated green amenity in the entire community, which is in great demand.
“If built, the increased traffic will cause both noise and chemical pollution and will damage an ecological-sensitive marshland. The area is home to breeding wader birds such as common and jack snipe. The area is also home tograylag geese.
“It would be built on a floodplain and will restrict the flow of water in a flood,” the submission added.
Senior engineer, Tom Tiernan has stated the long-term benefits of a new distributor road will be seen by future generations.
Clare County Council’s senior engineer explained this new road is necessary to facilitate development and good-quality connectivity and access to all opportunities that exist there at present and can exist in the future.
“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,” he said.
He has also stressed there is an onus on the council to ensure the distributor road doesn’t make the existing flood risk any worse.