Plan for roundabout at junction a step closer
COUNCIL ‘CONFIDENT’ IT WILL GET GREEN LIGHT FOR BALLYMACQUIRKE CROSS WORKS
A SENIOR county council official has said he was “confident” Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) would rubber stamp a scheme for traffic calming measures at a north Cork road junction once branded “one of the most dangerous in the country.”
Debate has raged for some time over the need to implement new safety measures at N72 Ballymacquirke Cross junction near Banteer, with thousands of locals even signing a petition calling for action.
In January, Cork County Council delivered a report to councillors saying consultants had investigated the issue and the authority had submitted a draft report to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) containing three possible solutions.
These were improving sight lines by staggering junctions; building a roundabout or installing a grade separated junction – or in lay man’s terms a flyover along the route of the N72 over the junction.
In March the authority’s director of road services, Tom Stritch, confirmed that a roundabout at the junction was now the preferred option and that the council’s National Roads Office had prepared a draft Road Safety Remedial report on the junction under the auspices of TII’s road safety programme.
Speaking at this week’s June north area committee meeting Mr Stritch said the report on the roundabout had been submitted to TII and had been returned to the council for some minor adjustments. He said a finalised report had been sent back to TII and the Council was now awaiting its approval.
“We are quite confident of getting clearance from TII to move to the next stage, which will be the Part 8 planning process. As the cross is in a Special Area of Conservation the scheme will also require the undertaking of a Natura Impact Study (NIS) in addition to a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the land required,” said Mr Stritch.
While Mr Stritch did not give a give a timetable for the scheme, he did say the Council would be “hopeful” of getting to the point where they could appoint a consultant engineer to the project in the near future.
“The way they (TII) are talking it seems approval will be given. Of course, we will have to get that in writing first,” he said.
His comments were welcomed by Cllr Bernard Moynihan (FF) who, along with other councillors, has raised the issue of safety at Ballymacquirke on numerous occasions at Council level over the past year.
“The ball is now with TII and I hope they move swiftly to allocate the funding needed to start this most important project,” he said.
“I would like to congratulate the roads staff at Cork County Council for pursuing this issue with TII and getting it to this stage,” added Cllr Moynihan.