Upgrade road to save lives, urge gardaí

THE Cork-Tralee road, the N22, has claimed its sixth life this year, making it the most dangerous road in the south of the country and gardaí say that if large parts of it aren’t upgraded soon more lives will be lost.

Senior gardaí made a plea to fast-track the extension of the Ballincollig bypass to the west of Ballyvourney after a 59-year-old man was knocked down and killed near Farnanes on Monday.

Frank Long, from 54 Roche’s Buildings, Cork, was struck by a transit van as he tried to cross the road at 5.25pm. Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to contact them at (026) 20590.

A garda spokesman said: “This is a particularly dangerous road. There are dangerous junctions along it and there is a high volume of traffic. We are urging motorists to be very careful.”

He said the number of speeding tickets issued by gardaí along that road were up 25% on last year.

“Macroom needs to have its bypass built now, before any more people lose their lives,” he added.

He said the National Roads Authority had put in safety measures at Doonisky junction, near Lissarda, but a new road was needed to reduce the number of deaths.

Fine Gael councillor Michael Creed said he spoke with NRA officials just two weeks ago and was told construction of the Macroom bypass wouldn’t start until 2009. However, he said the NRA didn’t seem to be progressing the upgrade of the most dangerous section of the N22, between Ovens bridge and Macroom.

“A route corridor for that has been identified, but there has been no talk of detailed design of CPOs (Compulsory Purchase Orders),” Mr Creed said.