ANOTHER fatal accident on the main N20 road between Cork and Limerick this month has once again focussed attention on the safety of the main route between our second and third largest cities.

Plans have been drawn up by the National Roads Authority (NRA) to replace the N20 with a new M20 motorway linking the two cities, but in May the project was put on hold due to a lack of funding.

In common with all areas of public spending the budget available for new roads has been slashed. Despite this the NRA have confirmed that a new group of Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes are to go ahead next year. The five projects initially planned included the M20 along with new roads in Galway, Wexford, Dublin and Wicklow but in May it was decided to remove the M20 from the list due to a lack of funding.

The decision has led to considerable anger in north Cork and  south Limerick from politicians, local businesses and commuters. That anger is understandable considering that despite the N20 being the main route between the country’s second and third cities it is by modern standards a very poor quality road for much of its length.

The stretch from Cork to Mallow has been upgraded over recent years and is of reasonable quality but from Mallow to Croom in Co. Limerick the road is substantially inadequate to deal with modern traffic volumes.

The notorious Ballybeg bends section where the most recent fatality occurred is narrow and twisting without hard shoulders while long stretches between Charleville and Croom offer no room for vehicles to pull in and has also seen numerous head-on collisions.

Figures from then Road Safety Authority confirm just how dangerous the road is. The latest statistics available cover the period from 1997 to 2007. During that time there have been 42 fatalities on the N20, an average of 4.2 fatalities every year. In the same period there have been 74 accidents classified as serious resulting in 114 people sustaining serious injuries. A further 326 accidents described as minor were also recorded. Already in 2009 three people have lost their lives on the N20.

According to the NRA, although the new road is a PPP project, significant state funding would still be required to proceed with the land procurement and an Environmental Impact Statement.

As a result the M20 has been “reprioritised” due to lower traffic volumes compared to other schemes also awaiting funding. A spokesperson said,  “The reprioritising of these PPP projects will affect the scheduling of the M20 but not ultimately the construction of it”.

Despite the commitment in principal to build the new road it is now unlikely to go ahead for many years. Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen is calling for the M20 project to be pushed up the list on safety grounds.

“It is clearly totally inadequate to serve as the major highway between Cork and Limerick. Plans to improve the route were mothballed earlier this year due to lack of funding while work will still go ahead on other projects around the country which have much better safety records than the N20.

“The N20 must be one of the most dangerous national routes in the country and is clearly not fit for purpose. This is a safety issue and I am calling on the Government, the Transport Minister, the NRA and the Road Safety Authority to urgently reassess the importance of building a new road. Tragedies will continue to happen until action is taken,” he said.

Mallow-based Labour TD Seán Sherlock agrees, “It makes no sense to shelve a project of this nature given the infrastructure deficit that exists within this region. There is no reason why this cannot be financed over a period of time. If it is a Public Private Partnership there will still be construction companies interested in taking part, notwithstanding the economic downturn.

“Furthermore, rather than shelving the project due to the downturn I believe that now is the time to invest. If done now, this motorway can be constructed at a cost that is significantly less than four or five years ago, or even 12 months ago. There is no justification in stalling this project now particularly when people are crying out for jobs. Notwithstanding any problems with the route planning, everybody accepts this is something that needs to go ahead”.

Support for the new road in its current form however is not universal. Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick West, Niall Collins said that many of his constituents were not happy with the proposed junctions for the new road.

“In Croom, Kilmallock and Bruree there were serious concerns about access to the new road and the affect this would have on local businesses. People were very concerned that this road would have a negative impact on south County Limerick,” he said.