Transport Infrastructure Ireland asked to fix up route to energy hub

By Sean O’Riordan

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) will be asked to designate a road leading to the country’s biggest energy hub as a national primary route and carry out traffic calming measures on it to protect residents from a major increase in the number of vehicles using it.

County councillors representing the East Cork municipal district have decided to write to TII to upgrade the status of the road from Midleton to Whitegate.

They made the decision after hearing that there had been a 79% increase in traffic using the route between 2015 and 2018.

There are now, on average, 43,000 vehicles per day using the road between 6am and 6pm, compared to 24,367 in 2015. The number of HGVs has more than doubled to 6,475.

Fears about the volume of traffic and speed on the road were raised by a deputation representing people living in the village of Rostellan.

Their spokeswoman, Sally Creighton, said there had been one fatality and two serious accidents involving pedestrians trying to cross the road and something had to be done to ensure similar tragedies did not happen again.

The nearby villages of Whitegate and Aghada are home to the Irving Oil Refinery, the ESB generating station, and Calor Gas.

Ms Creighton said a large extension is proposed to the refinery and this will lead to a further increase in traffic.

Such a development, for which planning permission is now being sought, would mean a further increase in commercial and heavy goods vehicles, oil tankers and private cars along the Rostellan Road,” she said.

More than 1,500 people living in the area have signed a petition seeking to have the traffic calming installed in the villages along the route.

A study was carried out on the road in 2009 and Ms Creighton said that despite the increase in traffic volume nothing had been done to slow down vehicles or provide pedestrian crossings.

In addition, she said, there was a serious lack of public lighting in the villages and this was causing a danger to schoolchildren crossing the road in the winter months.

“The population of the Rostellan, Whitegate and Aghada villages has increased considerably in the last 10 years,” Ms Creighton said.

The county council does not have the necessary funds to upgrade the road and to install traffic calming measures needed in Rostellan, Whitegate and Aghada.

Fine Gale councillor Susan McCarthy said the road needed to be upgraded to a national primary route because of its importance in terms of the energy hub.

She said that it was “the most strategic route in East Cork” and that action needed to be taken to make it safer for road users and pedestrians.

It is a highly dangerous situation and an accident waiting to happen,” said Ms McCarthy.

“Lighting is a huge issue there, especially in the mornings when children are crossing the road.”

Sinn Féin councillor Danielle Twomey said: “Rostellan’s population has grown and yet nothing has been done.”

Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley said she was also very concerned about the safety of people living in the villages.

She said that if TII upgraded it to a national road, then TII would take control of it. She said TII were in a far better position to improve the road and install traffic calming measures, pedestrain crossings etc than the cash-strapped district council.