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NRA highlights accident blackspots


A NATIONAL Roads Authority (NRA) report, which was conducted over a two-year period, has identified a number of dangerous secondary roads in Clare, where several fatal accidents have taken place.

The report suggests that many of the secondary roads where the fatal accidents have occurred are conducive to further serious accidents.
The NRA report states the N67 Ennistymon to Miltown Malbay road has been the scene of 10 “recent accidents,” five of which were fatal.
“This may be indicative of a current safety problem in this corridor,” the lengthy report says.
Poor sight distances south of Lahinch for approximately 5km and similarly poor sight distances 2km north of Miltown Malbay, were both noted.
“For this combined corridor, some 84% of the route has a lane width less than 3m and some 93% of the corridor has lane widths less than 3.5m,” the NRA noted, adding that it would cost €17.76m to carry out necessary repair works on this route.
The N67 Ballyvaughan to Lisdoonvarna Road, where the NRA say three fatal accidents have been recorded, is described as “extremely poor standard” that will be “very challenging to upgrade”.
The projected cost of upgrading this route, which stretches to Kinvara, was put at €32.48m.
Ongoing issues were also identified on the Kilrush to Kilkee Road. “There are a number of both fatal and serious accidents over the 7km north of Kilrush. This stretch of the route appears to have adequate visibility but has substandard width,” the report states.
Noting that there is no speed restriction in Moyasta, the report recommended a Type 2 upgrade.
“There is very little overtaking opportunity between Kilkee and Garraun as the route is quite bendy and hilly and the route is characterised by short non-overtaking interspersed with short overtaking sections,” the report noted. The projected cost of upgrading this stretch of road has been estimated to be €13.29m.
Sections of the N68 Kilrush to Ennis Road were also highlighted as a route where regular and sometimes serious accidents have occurred.
“There are two particular accident clusters. The first occurs between Ennis and Darragh on a long bend on the road, which still achieves more than 160m visibility. The second is a 5km section in the vicinity of Lissycasey. Both locations occur where the relative frequency of junctions is higher than over the remainder of the scheme,” the NRA noted.
The cost of the proposed upgrade to this section of road has been put at €35.68m.
On a related note, last January, the NRA confirmed that Clare received the lowest national roads grant figure in Munster. In fact, Clare was granted less than 5% of the entire €110.25m total allocated to the province. The county received funding of €5,450,934 from the overall total. The full report on the National Secondary Roads Needs Study is on the NRA website.

 

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