Lorry sheds part of load near Slane bridge

An incident in which an articulated truck carrying straw bales shed its load while negotiating the 90 degree bend at the bottom of Slane Hill yesterday (Tuesday) has led to further renewed calls for a bypass for the village. Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee said that the latest incident involved a 'relatively soft load' but asked what would have happened if the same lorry had been carrying a load of steel or blocks. 'I am once again asking Minister Dempsey to begin work immediately on the Slane bypass following today"s further accident in the village,' he said. He said the incident was an example of what happened in the village on a regular basis 'and, once again, it was a miracle that someone was not badly injured or even killed'. The road at Slane was simply not equipped to deal with the current levels of HGV traffic - it is a medieval bridge built for medieval traffic, he said. 'As well as being a major motoring route, this part of the bridge also has a high level of pedestrian traffic. Residents and their children use the bridge to avail of the walks along the river,' he said. The village received a warning in March when a pile-up caused by a runaway truck occurred during the morning school run. 'It was a miracle that no-one was killed then. Once again, the Gardai are called to a road incident in Slane and local traffic is disrupted for hours. What is this costing the local economy? This latest incident involved a HGV carrying a relatively soft load. What would have happened if the same lorry had been carrying a load of steel or blocks? When will this Government realise that Slane is a road safety disaster waiting to happen?' Mr McEntee said.