Council urged to end Cockle Road 'rat run'
CALL TO INTRODUCE PROPOSED RESTRICTIONS
A large number of trucks are now using the Cockle Road and Ballymakenny Road (above) to get to the M1, raising safety fears among local residents.
A COCKLE Road resident has called on Louth County Council (LCC) to introduce speed restrictions proposed by the council last summer.
The resident said speeding trucks constantly use the road as a 'rat run' and heavy traffic travelling between the M1 and Termonfeckin and Clogherhead make living on what was once a quiet country road 'a total nightmare'.
The woman revealed how a truck using the road had recently crashed through the hedge in her mother's garden, narrowly missing the family home.
'My mother lives just up the road and a truck actually drove in and landed on the hedge,' she explained.
'It's such a narrow road, and so windy that there wouldn't be room if he meets someone else coming the other way.'
In August last year, the county council revealed their plans to lower the speed limit from 80kph to 60kph on the Cockle Road, along with a number of other regional roads around the area. The proposals went on public display but the new speed limits have yet to be implemented.
'I don't see why they wouldn't have lowered it already, it's obviously an issue for the council to propose these changes in the first place. We have a huge number of trucks coming over this road. They go over the Cockle Road and then over the Ballymakenny Road or onto the Termonfeckin Road. They tend to come in convoys and the noise is just unbelieveable.'
The local resident said the volume of traffic on the road has also increased since the road was signposted as the main route to the M1 for anyone travelling from the Termonfeckin and Clogherheard direction. 'They have signposted it as the main route to the M1 but they haven't done anything to the road to cope with the increase in traffic that brought. We live on a very dangerous bend and you are just taking your life in your hands. Even if they put some rumble strips in it would make a difference.'
However, local councillor Oliver Tully said the Cockle Road had not been included in the last trench of proposed speed limit changes.
'A number of new speed limit changes were passed at the December meeting of Louth County Council but that wasn't one of them, however, it may be included in the next review of speed limits,' he said.
'Making changes to the speed limits is a long process and involves council officials, the NRA, the community and the gardaí as well as council members themselves. It can take a long time for changes to be made. You can ask for a speed limit to be increased or reduced but it doesn't mean you are going to get it. The NRA have the final say in relation to most of them. I've been on the council 20 years and this is only the second time the speed limits have been adjusted.'
- FIONA MAGENNIS
