Demand for road safety measures on N3

Safety measures need to be introduced on the N3 between Lisgrey and Maghera to avoid more road traffic collisions.

The call was made by Fine Gael Councillor T.P. O’Reilly at Monday’s meeting of Cavan County Council. He warned of “a fatality” if urgent measures are not taken. He gave an example of a recent incident on the N3 involving a lorry, which went off the road and overturned into a field at a lower level than the road.

“The lorry went in just below that stretch of road,” which leads to what he called “hospital cross”.

Cllr T.P. O’Reilly demanded something be done to improve road safety on that particular stretch of road.

He highlighted the potential dangers at the entrance to Tírlán, formerly known as Glanbia, where numerous incidents have occurred over recent months.

“Get something on paper and get on it as soon as possible,” he told the Council executive.

Independent Councillor Shane P O’Reilly supported the motion. He claimed that Transport Infrastructure Ireland was proposing to change the speed limit at Maghera from 50 km/h to 60km/h, which he said would not be beneficial.

He stated 11 people had been killed in recent years between Whitegate and what he called Fishers Cross.

In his opinion, TII simply added “flashing beacons” to fix the issue at hand.

“I’m sick to death of talking about it. Transport hubs my backside, they’re not going to happen for another eight to nine years,” he lambasted.

In regards to the issue at Tírlán, Cllr S.P. O’Reilly stated lorries are “turning in there”, which he believes is causing a lot of accidents.

“Two men lost their lives last week,” he said, referring to the tragic deaths of Colm Tully (26) and Piotr Aronik (40s). Cllr O’Reilly highlighted how lorries were involved in both incidents.

Frustrated, the Mullagh man made reference to an incident in the past where TII “waited for a very bad accident” to occur before implementing the necessary safety measures.

He then turned his attention to the regional roads that lead off the N3 where he believes drivers are travelling at very high speeds.

“Colin McRae would have been impressed with some of the speeds. It’s a fatality waiting to happen, we need to do something.”

In response John McKernan, senior engineer in the roads section, stated the stretch from Virginia to Maghera had received funding this year, and works are currently being completed in that area.

He stated that further works on the stretch could take a while to procure due to the road being located in a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Mr McKernan also explains any changes made to the road must be “future proof”, making reference to the Virginia bypass, the route of which is due to be confirmed next week.