Plans to make the north Cork town of Charleville safer for pedestrians after 10 people were killed by vehicles in as many years are to be revealed this week.
It also looks likely a bypass will be built around the town in advance of a major upgrade of the main Cork to Limerick road to motorway standard.
The National Roads Office and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and understood to be drawing up safety plans for the town, especially its main street where .
Councillors representing the Kanturk/Mallow Municipal Council have demanded swift action to prevent further deaths in Charleville and were informed by their senior engineers that plans will be unveiled to them this week.
Charleville-based Fianna Fáil councillor Ian Doyle had asked for a timeline for the implementation of traffic calming measures in the town.
“I know surveys have been done on the main street and on the N20 approaches to the town. We need to move on this," Mr Doyle said.
“When Minister Jack Chambers (Minster for State at the Department of Transport) recently visited the town, he assured us emergency funding would be put in place by TII for the safety measures,” he added.
Fine Gael councillor John Paul O’Shea said the people of Charleville have waited long enough.
“We’ve had . We need immediate measures such as tabletop ramps,” he said.
Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy said the Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan recently said he may not have all the money in one go for the upgrade of the N20 to motorway, or dual carriageway standard, but should have the money for a bypass of Charleville at the least.
He said the minister knows that bypasses lower pollution and the experience in Macroom highlighted this.
“Anyway, we can’t be waiting for the motorway to be done,” Mr Murphy said.
“I’m confident the way the minister is thinking now we will get funding for the bypass.
“I cannot stress enough the urgency of these safety works. Anyway, the creation of a relief road is already on the county development plan,” Mr Doyle added.
“I don’t know what the delay is in getting this traffic calming done. It should be an absolute priority,” Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Moynihan said.
Council engineers confirmed that they will provide the safety plans to local councillors at an in-committee meeting in the coming days.
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