SUBSIDENCE ON one of the two approach roads to Slane bridge in Co Meath yesterday forced the county council to close a section of the main Dublin to Derry road just south of Slane and divert traffic away from the bridge.
This led to renewed calls from local residents for the Slane bypass to be progressed so daily traffic crossing the bridge, including many trucks, would be taken out of the village.
“The environmental impact statement (EIS) on the bypass said the road is unfit for purpose. Anybody in Slane could have told you that without carrying out a technical examination of it,” said Michele Power of the Bypass Slane Campaign yesterday. “This is 21st century traffic that is using an old road and an old bridge, and we are calling on An Bord Pleanála to expedite the bypass process and get traffic out of the village.”
Road maintenance works have been ongoing on the N2 since last week. It is believed while contractors were digging a trench on Mill Hill they came across evidence of subsidence.
Mill Hill is the steep hill on the northbound side of the river.
A spokeswoman for Meath County Council said for health and safety reasons the council could not carry out the emergency repairs using the “stop-go” traffic management system that had been in use for the last week.
She said the closure would continue for the rest of this week and possibly into the weekend.
The closure “will inconvenience 10,000 motorists a day and will again put hardship on the long suffering residents and business people of Slane village”, according to Slane-based councillor Wayne Harding.
He said that because of “the level of subsidence of the road, a complete road closure was needed to carry out the works safely”. The diversion that was in place until at least this weekend “will put huge volumes of traffic on to the N51 Navan road from Slane”.
Both the council and the National Roads Authority said the problem was unrelated to the partial collapse of a wall at Slane bridge earlier this month. That was due to the impact of the icy weather.
A spokesman for the NRA said: “The work on the bridge will be done as planned bridge maintenance works and will not require road closure.”
Meanwhile, the council said the diversions at Slane would see northbound traffic exiting the N2 at Balrath Cross (R153) and head towards Navan before taking the N51 to Slane.
Southbound traffic would exit the N2 at the centre of Slane village and head to Navan. From there it would take the R153 to Balrath Cross (N2).