Locals ‘run gauntlet of death’ on road

Councillors have claimed a new junction layout under construction on the main Cork-Mallow road will end up causing fatal accidents instead of preventing them.

Standing orders were suspended at a Cork County Council meeting yesterday after Cllrs Pat Burton (FG) and Dan Fleming (FF) claimed “a very serious situation” had arisen with the ongoing works at Rathduff/Grenagh junction.

Cllr Burton said local people were “running the gauntlet of death” trying to negotiate the new works, which he maintained would not be as safe as installing traffic lights.

Both also claimed that residents were preparing to block the main road if the €2m works designed by the NRA were not suspended immediately.

Cllr Fleming said people living in the two villages, which are separated by the main road, were finding it very hard to get on and off it.

“More than 22,000 vehicles a day use that road and it’s very hard to cross at the best of times. A lot of trucks are also coming in and out of the Dairygold Co-op in Grenagh as well,” he said.

Cllr Ronan Sheehan (Lab) said locals’ fears should be listened to as they were the experts when it came to crossing this road.

He was supported by Cllr Dan Joe Fitzgerald (FF) who said council engineers should speak to the people about the NRA’s proposed design.

County engineer Noel O’Keeffe said: “The suspension of this contract is not an option. It’s a €2m contract. I take on board what councillors say and I will get our project team to visit locals and speak to them.”

He said the NRA would undertake to carry out a review between three and six months after the new junction layout had been installed.

Cllr Burton said: “If NRA is going to do an audit in six months’ time people will continue to face the gauntlet of death crossing this road. Local residents are facing delays four to five times a day. It leads to frustration and will lead to a fatal accident.”

Acting county manager Moira Murrell said the council’s director of roads, Tom Stritch, had relayed locals’ concerns to the NRA.

“The county engineer and project team will take a long look at this,” said Ms Murrell.