There is an alternative
route
A Chara - I refer to your report on the Dáil
debate on the M3 (Meath Chronicle, 4th December). A lot
of the comments politicians made are symptomatic of the
short-sightedness of our leaders. Travelling to Croke
Park 20 years ago you could always be sure of a
bottleneck at Dunshaughlin on the return trip. Even then
I could see a bypass was a necessity but nothing
happened.
Minister Dempsey said Navan, Kells and Dunshaughlin are
choked with traffic but his party has been in power for
most of the past 20 years.
The building of the Navan inner relief road in 1987/1998
should have improved traffic conditions but it has led to
chaos. Deputy Johnny Brady pointed out "the new M3 will
be a greater distance from the Hill of Tara than the
existing road" but fails to point out that there will be
a lit interchange north of the Hill, visible from Tara 24
hours a day. Perhaps Deputy Brady will put forward the
necessary funds if, as happened at Stonehenge, we have to
put the road underground.
There is no doubt that a new road is necessary but not
through the Tara-Skryne valley. It is not as Navan
Chamber of Commerce president Michael Cassidy said that
there is no "alternative to this particular road". As
reported in the Irish Times (6th December) there is an
alternative route - the P route east of the Hill of
Skryne.
Colr. Tommy Reilly's comment that the discoveries in the
Skryne Tara Valley are just pots and pans beggars belief.
By that rationale Tara is a big hill and Newgrange is a
grave with a few stones around it.
I agree with Colr. Brian Fitzgerald that commuters will
continue to go through the back roads and villages of
Meath. I work in Blanchardstown and use the back roads.
If I wish to use the M3 in the future, it is going to
cost me approximately €1,050 a year. We are going to
be paying on this road so some private company can make a
profit.
Figures quoted show the level of traffic will decline by
73 per cent in Dunshaughlin, 78 per cent in Navan, and 90
per cent in Kells. However, a lot of commuters will
continue to use the back roads rather than pay tolls.
Drogheda has not experienced the anticipated drop in the
number of lorries and cars passing through because of the
level of the toll on the bypass. Is Minister Dempsey
certain that the same won't happen in Meath?
Is mise le meas,
JOHN GLEESON,
Gilltown,
Macetown,
Navan.
© The Meath Chronicle, 18th. December, 2004.
