Glen of Downs road needs to be widened, says engineer

THERE is an imperative public interest in widening the road through the Glen of the Downs to improve safety, the High Court was told yesterday.

Mr Brendan O'Donnell, executive engineer with Wicklow County Council, said that between 1988 and 1996 five people died and 84 accidents were reported on the stretch of the N11 from Kilmacanogue through the Glen of the Downs.

Average daily traffic on the road was 25,600 vehicles, and this was expected to double within 15 years. Present traffic volumes were twice those which would normally necessitate the provision of a dual carriageway.

But Mr Dermot Murphy, who is challenging the council's plan to build an £18.5 million dual carriageway through the glen, said widening the road would merely increase speeds and endanger public safety. The planned road scheme was inconsistent with traffic-calming measures near by.

Mr Murphy said the issue at the heart of his action was that the council must comply with all statutory procedures before it could interfere with public rights of way through the glen or with the nature reserve there.

The competing claims were made in affidavits read on the second day of a challenge by Mr Murphy, a computer technician, who is seeking an order quashing the council decision to proceed with construction of the dual carriageway.

Mr Peter Bland, for Mr Murphy, read several affidavits and opened maps of the glen area to the court.

In another affidavit, Mr Joe Treacy, a forestry consultant, said the total number of trees which would be directly affected by the road development was 386, of which 124 had already been felled. Some 21 per cent of the 386 trees were of low conservation value.

Mr John Higgins, consulting engineer, said a modified route designed by the engineering staff of the council combined the best features of proposed eastern and western routes and avoided most of the adverse environmental effects associated with the other routes. It would directly affect 0.68 acres of woodland.

The hearing continues today.