Sir, - Contrary to what Frank McDonald thinks about public awareness of the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council proposals to adopt and complete the Monkstown Ring Road (Irish Times, August 12th), the residents of the immediate area are fully aware by now of the benefits the new road will bring. There is a wealth of detailed information about what will happen when the remaining 500 metres are completed.
He is correct when he says that in general people living along the immediate route object to its completion, but this must be balanced against the opinions of the many more people in neighbouring residential roads and estates, running into hundreds of households, who will at last find some relief from the ever-growing traffic.
People in Newtown Park Avenue are not, as he claims, "living elsewhere". They, and we in the Stradbrook Road area, are living right here, and are directly affected by the unnecessary extra traffic on our roads, some generated by people who might be expected to object to the ring road.
The ring road as planned will distribute more evenly the excessive burden of traffic being borne by the present route from Dun Laoghaire to Stillorgan, not traffic to Blackrock as unfortunately suggested by your otherwise excellent map of the ring road. The present route to Stillorgan brings traffic past many individual houses, estate entrances, a church, three schools, a concrete distribution depot, two pubs, a garage and several shopping malls. The ring road would give a direct route with minimum number of accesses, and would give very easy access to residents of Rowanbryn and Springhill estates to the revitalised old village of Newtown Park.
Far from taking some land from Newpark School, the ring road could give an extra entrance to the school grounds and help solve the permanent parking problems around the school when night classes are being held.
All this must enhance road safety and make life easier for everyone using the local road system, be they motorists, cyclists or pedestrians. - Yours, etc.,
Rowan Park, Blackrock.