|
|
 |
You are > Home > New road will bypass north Sligo villages
|
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
New road will bypass north Sligo villages
Every village from Sligo to Bundoran will be bypassed in radical new plans to redevelop the N15 road.
Four proposed routes were presented to home-owners in North Sligo earlier this month, each one bypassing Rathcormack, Drumcliffe, Grange and Cliffoney.
The roads, colour-coded as brown, purple, orange and blue routes, are included on an ordnance survey map presented to residents in the affected villages and hinterlands.
The map also includes details of work to date on the scheme as well as the phases needed to bring the project to fruition.
A questionnaire, sent out with the map, asks residents to comment on each of the four proposed routes. It also asks where the current N15 would need to be improved.
And North Sligo residents are also being encouraged to air their feelings on the four routes, including which one they would prefer.
Meetings will be held next week in Grange, Rathcormack and Cliffoney to discuss the proposed routes. Detailed drawings and maps of the routes will be on display and design staff will talk concerned residents through the individual routes.
As of yet the four routes are only proposals and none are set in stone. When a favoured route emerges after this phase of the project, more public consultation would take place, including adapting the route to try to accommodate residents.
The new road will be a dual carraigeway in sections with a “2 plus 1” design, as in two lanes one side, one lane the other, alternating every two kilometres.
The main objective of the new road is to allow a constant 80kph (50mph) speed to be maintained, without slowing for urban speed limits, traffic congestion or sharp bends.
It is also designed to reduce accident rates on what has been quite a dangerous stretch of road in recent years.
It will also reduce journey time, despite being roughly the same length as the existing road. The reduction comes from not having to go through villages on the way.
The Brown route is the furthest eastern route. It would curve outward from a roundabout situated north of Henderson Motor’s garage and would be situated about a mile east of Rathcormack before curving around the base of Benbulben and heading north-east towards the Bunduff Bridge, the finishing point for the routes and the border between Sligo and Leitrim.
This route would run about three miles west of Grange, bypassing the North Sligo village by some distance.
The Purple route does not lie as far east as the Brown route. It would cut through the townland of Teesan before overlapping with the Orange route to come even closer to the base of Benbulben.
Significantly on the north-west side of the mountain the Purple route would curve closer to Grange, within a mile, before overlapping once more with the Orange route.
The Orange route differs from the Purple route by going even closer to Grange and by emerging west of the existing road at Rathcormack, before turning to lie east of Drumcliffe.
The final route, Blue, is the only one to lie almost fully west of the existing road. It would run to the east of Drumcliffe Church but would then curve around to the west of Grange, running close to the coastline and parallel to the existing road.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
