New road will not solve N61 safety issues - residents

A group of South Roscommon residents are banding together to oppose plans to build a new road to replace the existing N61 between Lecarrow and Ballymurray. 

More than 150 people attended a public meeting in St John's Centre, Lecarrow on Wednesday December 18 to raise concerns about Roscommon County Council's proposal to construct a new road through the countryside. 
While the council says the project will address the serious safety concerns on the existing route, locals are concerned about the potential environmental impact and have launched a petition opposing the bypass. 
Lecarrow resident Daryl Parker says concerns about noise and air pollution are just the tip of the iceberg. 
“Our main concern is the environmental impact for the area as a whole. Three of the suggested routes would be cutting through the valley and Mote Park. Residents like ourselves would be caught between this new route and the existing route. 
“My own area, Toberdan, is at the bottom of a hill and we already have flooding at certain times. If you put in tons and tons of concrete for a new road it would only make things worse.
“There would be noise pollution and air pollution, resulting in the devaluation of our properties. We would be staring at this new road, but would have no access to it.”
Roscommon County Council have described the existing route as “substandard in terms of horizontal and vertical alignment, cross-section, sightlines [with] a high number of junctions and direct accesses, all of which add to its poor road safety record”. 
However, Daryl and other locals argue that a new road would not solve these problems, and are suggesting that the existing N61 be upgraded instead. 
“For the residents affected, the danger would not go away. Yes, there would be less traffic on the existing road, but it is not just the volume of traffic that is the problem – it is bad corners, poor signage, no turning lanes, etc. We feel an upgrade of the existing road would be enough. There are simple things that can be done which would fix the issues.”
The route corridor maps and online comment form are available at www.roscommoncoco.ie, with submissions being invited from the public before January 10. Alternatively, you can contact the Roscommon National Roads Regional Office on 090 6627004.
While submissions may still be accepted after this date, the project engineer Alan Mulryan says it is preferable that all views are submitted as early as possible in order to inform the decision-making process. 
Once the design team have reviewed the submissions, an emerging preferred route corridor will be presented at a later public consultation event.