Road traffic chaos is 'killing our town'... Business owners in Ashbourne fear cycle scheme works are driving trade away

PULLQUOTE: They have signs up saying Ashbourne is open for business but you could be looking at the same sign for 25 minutes that's the trouble

Business owners in Ashbourne up in arms about the ongoing traffic chaos say the constant disruption is "killing the town."

Good Friday sales in Nick Lynch's shop, Nick's Fish in Ashbourne Town Centre was down 66 percent compared to the the same day five years previously and says he is worried for the future.

Work on The R135 Cycle Network Scheme commenced in April 2022 and was due to last 65 weeks is almost a year behind schedule and is resulting in major disruption to motorists and traders in the town.

"Businesses in Ashbourne are suffering terribly," said Nick who has been trading in the town since 1999.

"I have a factory in Ashbourne Manufacturing Park 1km away from my shop in Ashbourne Town Centre and it could take me an hour to make what should be a ten minute journey," he added.

"The future of that shop is in doubt. Most of our customers have learned to shop other places. Traffic is so bad in Ashbourne that it causes traffic southbound tailbacks as far as Primastown."

Usually one of the busiest days of the year, this Good Friday saw sales plummet due to the traffic congestion in the town deterring customers from shopping locally as Nick explains:

"On Good Friday we saw a 66 percent reduction in business in the same period five years ago. This Good Friday you could not get up or down that town, the place was gridlocked for the entire day.

"One day, we had to send stock down to the shop and one van left to go to the shop in Ashbourne and one van left to go to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and the driver got to the Aviva before the other guy got to our shop 1km away."

Nick says businesses have had little or no engagement from Meath County Council on the matter and can't see an end in sight.

"They have signs up saying Ashbourne is open for business but you could be looking at the same sign for 25 minutes that's the trouble," he said.

"Ashbourne is not open for business, if it is, you have to have a helicopter

"The government has brought in a rate reduction for everyone in the country, the town of Ashbourne is suffering specifically because of what Meath Co Co has done and they have done nothing to mitigate that and they'll wander off into the sunset leaving lots of damage behind them."

Barbara Cromwell who owns New Leaf Cafe also in Ashbourne Town Centre says business has halved as a result of the situation bringing customers elsewhere.

"People just aren't coming into the town because of the traffic and in fairness you can't blame them," she said.

"The centre when you come in now in the mornings is like a ghost town.

"You are paying rates and you are paying rent and for what?" she added.

"There are nine people here full time but if it continues the way it is going, there won't be, it is as simple as that.

"It's a tough industry anyway but it is even tougher when you have the likes of that going on."

Barbara says communication from Meath Co Co would be welcomed but so far traders have been left in the dark.

"The council don't care, they are not getting involved and not talking to anybody, they are just burying their heads in the sand as usual," said Barbara.

"Where they are with the road works at the moment is a real pinch point and it is just bedlam. Nobody can get into the town in the morning or get out in the evening.

"All of the schools are down that direction and you have all these new traffic lights and the sequence is really bad on them. There are queues a mile long, it's horrendous."

Barbara who has ran the Ashbourne eatery for 16 years says she and her team have seen recessions and pandemics but the current traffic problems have affected business the most significantly.

"When business goes, it's very hard to get it back." said the frustrated cafe owner.

" It's very disheartening when you build a business up over 16 years and to have something like this completely out of your power to jeopardise it.

"Staff from a local company used to always come to us every Friday for lunch, there could be be 10 or 12 of them but they don't come now because they are sitting in traffic. You can't even do deliveries because you are sitting in traffic. It's a total nightmare."

Colin Power Plastic Fabrications Ltd is based in based in Ashbourne manufacturing Park, an area also traffic related experiencing challenges.

Owner Colin Power, says dealing with the daily fall out is "exhausting."

""Every customer who comes in, comes in with an attitude because they have just sat for a half an hour in traffic and are really frustrated," said Colin. "Couriers who do work for us are getting stuck in traffic, hour after hour don't want to deal with us because it's just too much hassle.

"It's soul destroying when someone comes in and is annoyed and they don't know who to be annoyed with so they are going to be annoyed with you.

"The fact that it has gone on for so long is the really frustrating thing. It seems like it is the most badly managed infrastructure plan I have ever seen."

Colin fears the works being carried out to facilitate cycle lanes will cause further chaos in the town upon completion due to the narrowing of the road.

"There are around 150 people in this industrial estate and I have nothing against cyclists but one person cycles a bike up from Ashbourne," said Colin.

"The thing that really galls me is that they decided they were going to spend millions on this and not one person came and asked anybody in this industrial estate what they thought of it before they decided to do it," he added.

"Everyone knows infrastructure has to be done but you have to have some kind of schedule or some kind of structure, this is incessantly going on and on and it looks like it is nowhere near finished.

"Obviously at nine in the morning or five in the evening you are going to get congestion but at two o clock you could look about and the whole road could be blocked from one end to the other."

Meanwhile Cinnamon Garden owner, Aashim Bajaj who has an Indian restaurant in the centre of the town said:

"Traffic congestion in Ashbourne has been causing significant challenges for our business. Delivering food locally has become increasingly difficult, impacting our ability to provide timely service to our customers. Additionally, the inconvenience of navigating through congested streets has deterred potential customers from visiting our location during the week."

Council: Works will significantly improve active travel infrastructure along the R135

A spokesperson for Meath Co Co said: "Meath Co Council acknowledges that the current works in Ashbourne to significantly improve active travel infrastructure along the R135 are impacting the life and business of the town.

"The contractor intends to surface the carriageway from Rath Lodge to the south of Ballybin Junction over the next two weeks; this will see works substantially completed as far as Ballybin Junction.

"Meath Co Council will continue to issue its monthly newsletter in relation to the works, and a dedicated Meath County Council Public Liaison Officer for the scheme is available via activetravel@meathcoco.ie or alternatively by phoning the Active Travel Section at 046 9097150.

"Meath County Council is committed to ensuring a successful outcome of the project. When finished, it will build upon the infrastructural improvements already delivered and support future investment in Ashbourne to enable it to grow in a sustainable way as envisaged in the development plan."

‘We need to know when the road works will end’ - Tobin

Fine Gael Cllr Alan Tobin is calling on the Transport Department of Meath Co Council to take action to engage with businesses in Ashbourne who are suffering as a result of ongoing traffic disruption in the area due to delays in completing the R135 Cycle Network. The Cycle Network comprises of two sections of the R135, one 1.8km section running from Dunnes Stores to the Pillo Hotel roundabout and 1.1km section to the south from Alderbrook to the Ninemile Stone roundabout.

"I totally sympathise with business people in Ashbourne who are frustrated and fed up with this situation," said Cllr Tobin (right). "I see the areas up around the Ballybin Road that are hugely affected, I see retailers in the town really struggling," he added.

"I see the people who have decided not to come into Ashbourne because they are going to be sitting in traffic and it's too much hassle. We can't win those people back until we know when the road works are going to end.

"I'm calling on the Transport Department of Meath Co Council to engage with public representatives who will then engage with businesses to give them some clear time frames as to when the roadworks are going to end and to outline the exactly lay out of the junction at Ballybin all the way up as far as Rath Roundabout. How are we going to complete that part of the project and on what time scale? We as public representatives need to know that, the businesses need to know that and the public need to know that."