Councillors expressed concern that a serious accident could occur on a busy road in North Cork without adequate funding. Members raised concerns about frequent accidents on the N72 between Firville and Newberry Junction and sought funding for safety improvements at the junction. A letter was sent to Transport Infrastructure Ireland requesting funding to enable work to begin. Transport Infrastructure Ireland confirmed funding for an N72 Firville to Newberry project in 2024 as a minor scheme involving widening over about one kilometre between specific junctions. TII stated that funding was not provided for the location in 2025 or 2026 because safety benefits were considered limited, and funding instead targets the N72 Kilcanway to Ballygriffin section where alignment improvements are expected to be greater. TII also stated that safety proposals are developed first by the Road Authority, which must analyze collision history and design a scheme for TII consideration.
"Fears have been expressed by several councillors that a serious accident will occur on a busy road in North Cork if adequate funding is not provided. At a previous Northern Committee meeting the elected members had unanimously raised concerns about the number of accidents occurring at the N72 Firville to Newberry Junction and queried if funding could be provided for the junction."
"The response stated that TII provided funding for an N72 Firville to Newberry project in 2024 as a minor scheme. "Cork County Council envisaged this to be a widening of the N72 over approximately one kilometre between the Firville West junction and the R621 (Dromahane) junction.""
"TII also confirmed in the letter that funding was not provided for this location under the minor programme in 2025 or 2026 as the safety improvements that such an intervention could make were considered to be quite limited. "Instead, funding is currently provided for the N72 Kilcanway to Ballygriffin section of the N72, further east, where there is a greater opportunity to significantly improve the alignment.""
"The correspondence from TII also confirmed that proposals regarding safety improvement works are matters which are normally developed, in the first instance, by the relevant Road Authority. "In order for TII to fully consider any such proposals relating to national roads, the Road Authority is required to carry out an analysis of the collision history at the location, design an appropriate scheme to deal with the safety issues identified.""
#road-safety #n72-firville-to-newberry-junction #transport-infrastructure-ireland #cork-county-council #traffic-accidents
Read at Irish Independent
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