Town by-passes more urgent than link road

IT’S been reported that upwards of €100 million is about to be spent on a dual carriageway connecting the N20 with the N8, north of Cork city.

While I have no objection to the roads authority putting it on the county development plan for some time in the future, this money would be much better spent building by-passes at Charleville and Buttevant at a fraction of the cost.

Fortunately, both towns have undeveloped land adjacent to cut the cost and the length of such bypasses.

You have only to see what difference a simple two-way road has made to Mitchelstown. We are told we will be waiting until approximately 2016 before the by-passes are to be built.

The N8 and N20 are currently connected by a very good relief road from Thomas Davis bridge to Silversprings, which means it takes no more than 10 minutes to get from one dual carriageway to the other.

But what is far more urgent is to build four two-way slip roads approximately seven metres wide with access and exit lanes where the N8 crosses the N25 at Dunkettle. This would allow for uninterrupted flow of traffic from one road to the other.

The planning decisions for our regional and national roads should be handed over to the regional authorities who can see the benefit of upgrading the regional and national secondary roads, thus helping to reduce traffic on our national primary routes.

I reckon that only 25% or so of traffic leaving Cork for Dublin does the full journey.

Michael Cummins

Limerick Road

Charleville

Co Cork