Villagers demand bypass road to replace Slane Bridge blackspot
The call has come following the latest temporary closure announcement of the bridge.
It will be shut from 6am on Saturday September 7, up until 6am the following day, to allow Meath County
Council to carry out safety measures.
Slane Bridge Action Group spokesman John Ryle said a feasibility study was being carried out for the provision of a bypass road and a recommendation is expected by November.
He said the latest traffic-light measures were only a temporary way of dealing with the problem which urgently needed a permanent solution.
"We want to speed it up and get a commitment that it will be built irrespective of what the study produces," said Mr Ryle.
He added that for every fatality there were about 10 other non-fatal accidents often involving serious injury.
One of the last people to die on the bridge was two-year-old local boy David Garvey who died in February 2000.
He was a passenger in a car which had stopped in a line of traffic a short distance from the bridge when it was hit by a lorry, which also struck two other cars.
Since then the bridge has been closed on at least four occasions.
One of these involved a truck carrying a heavy load of hay, while another involved an oil tanker which overturned on the bridge.
The tanker was travelling north at the time towards Derry at about 2am when the accident occurred.
Mr Ryle said only last Monday another accident occurred on the bridge when a refuse lorry ended up hanging precariously over the bridge. The driver escaped injury but was treated in hospital for shock.
He said this had been going on for 40 years and any amount of traffic lights would not resolve the problems.
"People are afraid to cross the street. And after years of neglect, 18 poles with traffic lights have ruined the appearance of the village.
"We have been crying out for a bypass but are being ignored," said Mr Ryle.
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