Bypass Ireland: Traffic costs lives on Charleville's busy streets
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An undertaker who has overseen the funerals of six people killed by trucks in his town centre in the past ten years can’t wait to see it getting a bypass because he doesn’t want to do that ever again.
Nearly every day, Austin O’Malley witnesses near-misses in Charleville, Co Cork, and “will often stand and marvel” at how people don’t get killed at the zebra crossing on the northern side of the town’s main street.
Impatient drivers often overtake other vehicles on it, he said:
“The safety of elderly pedestrians is paramount and taking big trucks out of the town will improve safety.”
It can’t come soon enough for him, but many locals are sceptical about the most optimistic timeframe being touted by the project team.
All going well, the upgrade of the Cork-Limerick road will be completed by 2030.
Ian Doyle, a local fuel merchant and Fianna Fáil county councillor said that around 15,000 vehicles pass through the town every day, many of which are heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Mr Doyle said:
He is concerned that no money has been ringfenced by central government for the project.
“The Charleville bypass will kick in south of Ballyhea, go to the western side of the town, and rejoin the main road again at Patrickswell,” he said.
“What’s vitally important is we have junctions off it, close by to the town. Having them too far away will not be any good.”
Mr Doyle believes getting HGVs to bypass the town centre while travelling between the two cities will boost pedestrian safety and make the town a better place to live.
“We’ll then have a chance to improve our public realm and make it a more attractive place to live.m” he said.
“There’s a lot of development in the pipeline for Charleville which will accelerate when the bypass is built,” he said.
Paul Murray, a board member of Charleville Chamber of Commerce, said the bypass was being talked about since the 1990s and that it’s 12 years since An Bord Pleanála held an oral hearing on it. The following year, the government axed the project because of the recession.
“People are frustrated about how long it’s taking,” Mr Murray said “There’s been a lot of discussions and no action... Our members are also very concerned that there’s no money ringfenced for it.
“The Macroom bypass will open in the next few months. The Cork-Limerick road should have taken priority over that,” he said,
His family has owned Murray & Son Ltd, a clothing department store on the town’s main street, for more than 100 years and has seen a major rise in traffic.
“Most people agree that taking a lot of HGVs off the street will be an advantage,” he said.
“People avoid the town at certain times because of gridlock. They avoid coming into shop on Fridays, in particular from 2pm onwards.”
Like Mr Doyle, he said he and his chamber colleagues believe it is vital for the town’s economic survival that there are junctions both north and south off the bypass to serve Charleville.
“They must be close to the town as well. It has to be like Cashel,” he said.
However, in his opinion, a motorway link between the two cities should have been built off the existing M8, the Cork-Dublin motorway, at Mitchelstown.
“It would have been a cheaper solution,” Mr Murray said and added that funnelling traffic quicker into Cork City on the upgraded Cork-Limerick road will cause gridlock in Blackpool and will be of little use if a new northern ring road isn’t built there.
Fergus O'Carroll has been a director of Deerpark Motors, a Renault dealership in the town, since 1989.
“There’s been a huge increase in the number of HGVs passing through since then,” he said.
While he welcomes the news that a bypass is coming, Mr Carroll admits to being a bit apprehensive about what effect it will have on the business.
Sometimes the gridlock pays off.
“When we have Munster matches on in Thomond Park or Musgrave Park, people stuck in queues will often look at the cars in the front of the showroom as they pass by and then ring us about them,” Mr Carroll said.
He estimates that around 15% of the dealership’s business is passing trade and, if these people take the bypass, it could be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.
“We need to have junctions off the bypass very close to the town,” he said.
“If people can get to here quicker from Cork and Limerick it will be an advantage.”
Donal Treacy owns a tyre sales shop, M-T Tyres, and definitely benefits from passing trade.
He took over the business, which has been operating for 43 years, when his father, Mike, retired.
“I would say up to 30 jobs every week are passing trade,” Mr Treacy said. “I also do out of hours breakdowns and again a lot of that is passing trade.”
“When the bypass is built it could have an impact on footfall.” he said.
“If we don’t have junctions off and onto it close to the town then I’m afraid I will be goosed.”
Michael Moran, who owns a menswear store on the main street, sees both the pros and cons of a bypass.
When the family business, JP Moran, opened 135 years ago there were no vehicles clogging the town.
“There’s no doubt a lot of passing trade will go and this will have an impact on a number of businesses. But making it safer for pedestrians is important,” he said.
“I regularly see vehicles jumping the lights at pedestrian crossings. It’s lethal.”
“But, as it is, the main street is totally gridlocked, especially on Fridays from 2pm onward.
“A bypass would ease this and it would free up more parking spaces,” he said.