Funds secured to upgrade lethal stretch of road

IT may have come too late for many grieving families but the long-awaited upgrade of one of the most dangerous national secondary roads in the country could prevent further deaths.

Land was acquired as far back as 1979 to realign a lethal section of the N72 in north Cork, but the proposed works on the Fermoy-Mallow road did not proceed.

As a result, the proposed redesign of a stretch between Killavullen and Castletownroche was shelved — until recently.

County councillors in the region, who became increasingly worried about serious accidents on the road, began intensively lobbying the National Roads Authority (NRA) for funding.

The NRA had initially identified the section of road around Killavullen village as being particularly dangerous and gave it priority status for funding.

But then, inexplicitly, it decided not to make funding available.

However, lobbying by councillors and senior council staff eventually persuaded the NRA to relent.

According to Tom Barry TD, who was one of the leading lobbyists before he was recently elected to the Dáil, the council has now acquired €2.4 million to carry out the work on the mile-long, most dangerous, stretch of road around Carrig Glen.

The Fine Gael TD, who lives in Killavullen, said he was acutely aware of the danger the road presented, especially as six people had died in crashes there in the past 10 years.

“That particular scheme will make safe one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the country,” the FG TD said.

“The process of carrying out realignment work on the road from the Nano Nagle Centre almost to Castletownroche, where six deaths have occurred in the last 10 years, is to begin.

“The stretch of road runs from Ballygriffin to Kilquane,” Mr Barry added.