Ghost estate roundabout ‘redundant’

ACTION has been demanded over traffic lights and a roundabout leading to a ‘ghost estate’ on the N69 which runs along the Shannon Estuary from Limerick.

Cllr Richard Butler said yesterday the traffic lights and the roundabout at Clarina are causing unnecessary traffic hold-ups on a key regional roadway.

Mr Butler said: “The lights were put in place when it was envisaged that a major housing development would be built on a green field site at Clarina. However, the estate has not been finished. As well as that, a roundabout was built a few hundred yards from the traffic lights, and this adds to traffic problems.”

Mr Butler said the lights should still be retained, but they should be timed to ensure that traffic onto the N69 is not unduly hindered. “During the summer, particularly on Friday evenings, there were tailbacks to Mungret two miles away. This also happened during the Listowel races. And only last Friday I was contacted by an irate motorist who told me she was in a tailback several miles from Clarina and assumed there had been a traffic accident, before taking an alternative route along country roads.

“It would not be very difficult for Limerick County Council to sort out the problem. The traffic lights should still be left to facilitate people coming onto the N69, but the timing of the lights should be altered,” Mr Butler said.

“You often come across situations when you have a long line of traffic on the N69 halted at the lights, and not a single car coming out from the side roads when the lights are on green.”

Limerick County Council has placed warning sings on the ‘redundant’ roundabout which is on the Kildimon side of the lights, as many vehicles had crashed into it.

The roundabout was built to facilitate a new village which was planned for a site just off the N69. However, work on much of the village came to a halt with the property crash.

Mr Butler said: “Traffic management can be better served with an adjustment to the traffic lights to ensure a freer flow on the N69 which serves the port of Foynes and Aughinish”.