Traffic gridlock at border crash
There was traffic gridlock for motorists heading north from Dundalk last week after a ‘serious crash’ caused major delays.
A man in his 40s had to be airlifted to hospital after what was described as a ‘serious collision’ involving a motorcycle and a car just north of the border.
The incident was reported on the A1 outside Newry shortly after 3pm on Thursday last.
The motorcyclist was taken to a hospital in Belfast by a police helicopter, and was said to have been in a serious condition.
Due to the location of the crash, traffic soon began to back up along the main cross border road, with hundreds of vehicles on the M1 outside Dundalk meeting a traffic log jam as they headed towards the border.
Northbound traffic became backed up as far as Dundalk after the crash.
The southbound lane was
closed also for a time to allow the police helicopter to land and take off again.
With extensive delays building up over a number of hours, gardai began to re-direct traffic at the Jonesboro exit, to travel along the old AI/N1 at Carrickarnon, or through South Armagh to re-join the main road at Newry.
The number of traffic collisions have been greatly reduced since the opening of the new road network
Police in the north are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash or who may have stopped to help the injured motorcyclist to contact them in Newry at 0044 845 600 8000.