Residents raising safety concerns over new Navan-Slane road junction position

Concerned residents in Dunmoe say a dangerous junction built to access the newly constructed Slane to Navan road will cost lives if it opens in its current form.

The new entrance giving way to N51 from a lane way where a number of houses and farms reside is due to be open in the coming weeks and is close to a "lethal bend” say residents who are calling on Meath County Council to take action.

Locals are currently using a temporary entrance and exit nearby that they say is "much safer."

Local farmer Pat Coogan says the design is “not fit for purpose.”

"When you come out of that new exit there is 400m or 500m visibility towards Navan but towards Slane you have 140m or 150m,”he said. I have a tractor and a zero grazer 70 ft long and if I pull out there and someone is flying behind me at 120km, he hits the brakes when he sees me, it is going to take at least 350m to stop, it’s too late. The whole thing is lunacy.

"If we come out at the temporary exit they have left us, we have 500m to the right, 500m to the left, we are level with the road, forget planning, on safety alone, it is so much safer. “

Mr Coogan and fellow residents pointed these issues out to local politicians in the design stage but plans forged ahead despite concerns as he explains:

"When they designed this road, we got a mini bus and took all of the councillors and showed all the flaws in their design and what was practical and what wasn’t. We started in the Tennis Club in Stackallen and we went the whole way to the Round Tower. They acknowledged our concerns at the time but then they absolutely steamed it through.

"There will be somebody killed if this goes ahead. And right across from where we are going to be pulling out is a crash barrier and there is about a 70ft drop, it is a disaster waiting to happen.

"We are just looking for a safe entrance and exit to come to and from our homes and to ensure the safety of everyone on that road.”

A resident who asked not to be named said: “It is designed on the worst part of the road very close to a bend and it not fit for purpose for the amount of traffic that will be using it. The junction we are using at the minute has good sight lanes on both sides and you can see and be seen.

“There was a lot of work that went on with councillors and Meath Co Council and we voiced our concerns strongly at the time of planning but there was no heed taken.

“We would be much happier with the existing temporary junction, it is being used very safely."

Resident Brendan Mennis said: "There was a meeting in the town hall with all of the local county councillors of the area regarding this road and we were told that Meath Co Council had very little say in it, that it was the National Road Authority making all of the decisions.

"It is absolutely scandalous to think of what they have done on a new project, they could have put the entrance to the road nearer Slane and it would have been a lot cheaper and a lot safer.”

Meath County Council has been approached for comment.