INSIDE
Friday, December 4, 2015
Serving Cork for 120 years
Christmas joy for hospitals’ Children’s Club
Mourneabbey go for All-Ireland glory
Page 5
Cork Sports World
PLUS
Edition No: 36073
RRP: €1.50
FEAST OF FESTIVE READS TO PLACE UNDER THE TREE - PAGES 22/23
Pandemonium! Commuters furious at 3-hour delays
FF: Cork-Limerick motorway ‘priority’
THE Cork-Limerick motorway will be a key priority infrastructure investment for Fianna Fáil if elected to form the next government, writes PADRAIG HOARE. That is the declaration of Fianna Fáil leader and Cork South Central TD, Micheál Martin, regarding the M20 motorway which did not form part of the Government’s capital investment programme for 2016 to 2021. The decision has been slammed by motorway campaigners as it emerged in recent weeks that it is now likely to be 2030 before its construction. Deputy Martin said: “The M20 is a long overdue piece of national road infrastructure that will connect cities and towns stretching from Galway to Cork. The current N20 was never built to deal with current traffic volumes and the level of congestion and accidents is testament to this.” However, Cork’s Coalition ministers Simon Coveney (Finae Gael) and Sean Sherlock (Labour) insist the project has not been abandoned. See Pages 10&11.
F U R I O U S c o m m u t e r s d e - ■ Audrey Ellard Walsh & Alan manded answers of the NRA, the Healy City Council and gardai today Taking to social media in their after they experienced never- hundreds drivers described the before-seen traffic delays of situation as ‘horrific’ and a ‘dismore than three hours and more grace’. One person had a three hour wait to access the Jack Lynch Tunin parts of the city last night. nel from the Kinsale Road; another
Taffic chaos in Cork yesterday. Commuters are furious at delays.
Picture: Twitter
Motorists on the N40 South Ring Road encountered some of the longest delays as flooding forced theclosure of the left lane of traffic past Junction 10 at Mahon with gardaí describing the resulting situation as pandemonium. Problems started building from 4pm with tail backs still being experienced until after 8pm. When motorists heard of the tailbacks heading eastwards towards the tunnel, they opted to turn towards the city at the Kinsale Road Roundabout which caused a backlog from the South Link. Many then opted to try alternative routes through the suburbs with Blackrock and Douglas becoming completely gridlocked.
left Ballincollig at 4.30pm and got to the tunnel at 7pm; another driver had a two hour wait to get from Wilton to the tunnel. Sean O’Neill spokesperson for the NRA said this morning they had no option but to close the lane approaching the tunnel due to flooding. “We were dealing with rising river levels, significant water runoff from the land and excessive rain. These combined to flood the lane and the timing of the event was absolutely terrible. It shows how critical the N40 is and similar to the M50 in Dublin if something bad happens on it then the entire region is affected.” The City Council has no responsibility for the road. ■ Continued on page 3.
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