Slane traffic report brings us back where we started

A report examining the impact of banning heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) going through Slane village represents a pretty poor outcome for the people of Slane who have been campaigning for some years for the building of a bypass. Senior Meath County Council engineer Nicholas Whyatt told a meeting on Monday that a ban on five-axle vehicles, of which some 1,200 cross Slane bridge each day, would see 800 vehicles moving to other roads. Consultants Aecom, on behalf of Meath County Council, which had carried out the first phase of a study into possible traffic management alternatives (principally proposals to ban HGVs) on the N2 through the village, said that goods vehicles with less than five axles would still be able to use the existing bridge, as would five-axle HGVs that were granted a permit. And it predicted that a five-axle ban would generate "slight safety benefits on the overall network and an improvement on local air quality in Slane". At this stage, the traffic model devised by the consultants points to a "very small" overall safety benefit from a five-axle ban. To say this is a disappointing outcome for the people who live in the village and have to put up with daily hazards there is understating the case. In fact, they have come out with a statement expressing their "frustration and anger" over lack of progress in getting a solution to the Slane traffic problem. Foremost in their minds are the names of the 22 people who have so far died in accidents in the village or on Slane bridge. They have to live with the daily threat of further accidents hanging over them. An Bórd Pleanála refused planning approval for a bypass in March this year. That decision wiped out any hope of a bypass for at least a decade. It gave two reasons for refusal - 1, that the scheme for a bypass would be acceptable only where it had been demonstrated that no appropriate alternative was available; 2, the proposed 3.5km bypass, to be located 1.1km to the east of the current bridge, was within the "viewshed" of the Brú na Bóinne Unesco world heritage site, which includes the neolithic monuments of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. At the time, the campaign group Save Newgrange, which opposed the bypass scheme, called for a heavy goods vehicle ban in the village, while the Slane Bridge Action Group said it was "devastated" by the refusal and expressed scepticism that a HGV ban could or would be enforced, a view reinforced this week by the publication of the Aecom report. Following the Bord Pleanala decision, the county council engaged traffic consultant Aecom and began a three-stage process to re-examine possible traffic management alternatives to the bypass. Stage 1 would include a review of existing information, supplementary information and model possible alternatives to the bypass; stage two would consider the legal and practical implications of any traffic management alternatives identified in stage one, and three, decide the best option to address the traffic situation on the N2 through the village. The outcome of scenario one is so disappointing because of its prediction of slight safety benefits on the overall network of a five-axle ban. The overall safety benefit is very small because the re-routed traffic has to travel further on roads of varying standard, some of which are of lower classification than the N2 national primary road and which have deficiencies of their own. The consultants say that while the other options considered to ban HGVs all resulted in reductions in the nunbers of HGVs through Slane, none of them produced an overall net gain in traffic safety. That appears to say we are back where we started. The next step will see the council making the Aecom report available on its website and invite the public to make submissions on it. However, it points out that the issue does not just affect Slane - the re-routed HGVs will travel on other roads which affect different parts of the county, such as the R152 between Kilmoon Cross and Drogheda (pas Duleek), and on the R153 between the N2 and Navan (through Kentstown). It appears the council will not give up on the issue and will press on to achieve some solution but the residents of Slane can hardly gain one crumb of comfort from this latest report.