Village faces 6,000 toll dodgers per day

ROAD rage erupted yesterday at the opening of the country’s newest toll road, as residents accused the NRA of creating a potential death trap in their village.

Around 100 residents of Watergrasshill mounted a peaceful protest as Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen opened the €300 million Fermoy bypass, in Co Cork.

Denis Dineen, chairman of a local action group, claimed that thousands of motorists would try to dodge the toll by driving through Watergrasshill, putting lives at risk.

“We are fearful for the lives of children attending the national school, as there are no traffic calming measures in place, and all traffic coming into the village from the Cork side will pass the school,” he said.

Former Transport Minister Seamus Brennan opened the Watergrasshill bypass just three years ago, making village life idyllic. This is likely to change with the tolling of the Fermoy bypass, which the Cork County Council estimates will send up to 6,000 toll dodgers through Watergrasshill every day.

These are likely to turn off the main Dublin to Cork road roughly a kilometre before toll booths located just north of Watergrasshill, diverting through the village on their way up the old N8 to Fermoy.

A second protest was held yesterday afternoon by parents whose children attend the local national school.

Anna Bannon, chairman of the Parents Council, said the lives of 205 children were being put at risk by cars and trucks dodging the toll, noting that the school is directly across the road from a new housing estate heavily populated with young families.

“This area is now a potential death trap. There is no pedestrian crossing. Before, you could leave kids walk to school .. but now it’s just too dangerous,” said Ms Bannon.

She said Watergrasshill bypass had turned the village into a safe haven where hundreds of families flocked. “Now that’s all gone,” she added.

The local community association say 4,000 vehicles pass through the village each day, and they are alarmed by Cork County Council’s estimate that this will increase to 10,000 a day, in the short term, due to toll dodgers.

Mr Dineen handed a petition outlining residents’ concerns to Minister Cullen, who agreed to meet residents in the coming weeks.

At a ecumenical blessing of the road, Presbyterian Minister Rev Samuel Mawhinney referred to the community’s fears when he said: “They were bypassed yesterday, but not today.”

He urged Minister Cullen to insure that tolls wouldn’t be massively increased in the years ahead.

NRA spokesman Sean O’Neill said that a €2m traffic calming scheme would be introduced in the village.

He added that toll dodging motorists would be encouraged to divert over a flyover and back onto the road via another route, to avoid the village centre.