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The following
are the comments which have been submitted.
The guestbook is not receiving submissions for the moment.
| 5 March 2002 |
|
| Name |
James Boles |
| E-mail |
jboles15@yahoo.com |
| Comment |
I can't believe that anyone could
be proposing something like this. |
| 14 April 2002 |
|
| Name |
Gerard Gilligan |
| E-mail |
gilligang@eircom.net |
| Comment |
I find it hard to come to terms
with the proposal to build a dual carriageway. Given the
projected volumes, the constraints that will be placed on
capital expenditure in the future as a result of the downturn in
the Celtic Tiger, the roadbuilders will spend millions on a
design for a dual carriageway that will not be built, leaving
local residents and roadusers with a poor primary route. To me
the best option is to upgrade the existing road NOW.
|
| 28 May 2002 |
|
| Name |
A cynic who has seen it all
before! |
|
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| Comment |
The reason behind most planning
decisions is usually just one thing -MONEY Improving i.e.
widening, an existing road means more expense as it involved
compulsory purchase of homes which is always more expensive and
a longer process than persuading hard-up farmers to part with
their land. There is an additional profit involved in re-zoning
(Remember those brown envelopes in the Dublin re-zoning
scandal?) and a higher potrential profit in building anything
from scratch. Planning decisions are not about making
"improvement" to anything, they are about making
profit for those involved in a development's building processes.
Logic should be involved, but it often isn't!!
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| 07 June 2002 |
|
| Name |
David Carden |
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| Comment |
Nobody can argue against new or
re-aligned roads that save lives and remove bottlenecks that may
hinder local or regional development.
In fact it seems nobody is arguing against that.
The problem seems to be a desire to squander money on a scheme
that is not needed. Ireland seems to suddenly have a financial
crisis that necessitates using proper logic to balance
investments and returns. If continued investment in a road
scheme doesn't bring the returns, what is the point?
It is true that mistakes were made in other road schemes such as
the Dublin M50 that quickly reached its capacity, but no such
expectation exists for the N24. How about realigning and
improving the existing road, which arguably would have to be
done anyway. If in the future further capacity is required then
revisit the subject. But keep the fingers out of the wallet for
the moment.
|
| 05 October 2002 |
|
| Name |
eddie |
| Address |
tipperary |
| Comment |
the N24 is one of the most
important roads in ireland, i say make it dual carage way fast
beofore more lives are lost, i am a hgv driver & find the
strech between derygrath & cahir very dangerous
my truck is usualy running at 38 tons & one slight lack of
concentration could spell disaster, dual carrigeways are much
safer as they reduce the risk of head on collisions,several
people have lost their lives on this strech of bog road in the
last number of years!
how is the economy to grow if we have
no infastructure. the apple farm is only thinking of its own
intrests, i think lives are more valubal than apples, am i
wrong?
|
| 09 October 2002 |
|
| Name |
Con Traas |
| Address |
The Apple Farm |
| Comment |
As a member of Argus, I have not
been inclined to place a comment here up to now, but since
mention of The Apple Farm has been made, I wish to respond as
follows:
I agree totally with Eddie's comment that the stretch of road
between Derrygrath and Cahir is very dangerous. I too think that
lives are more important than apples. Having lost my brother in
a traffic accident when he was eighteen years old makes me
acutely aware of this. This is why, contrary to the impression
Eddie has formed, our group is not anti-roads. We are merely
questioning whether a dual carriageway is
appropriate for a stretch of road which currently carries 8500
vehicles per day, and which the NRA states will never (in the
next forty years) carry more than 15,000 vehicles per day.
To build a dual carriageway is expensive. A stretch the length
of a football field will cost about one million euros. Someone
has to pay for this. If a dual carriageway of 165 miles (e.g.
Dublin/Cork) had to be financed
over 20 years by toll only, it would require a toll of about €80.00
- €160.00 on a return trip (depending on interest rates over
the twenty years). Assuming a double toll for truck drivers like
Eddie, the annual toll cost, if Eddie was to make such a journey
five times each week, would be at least €60,000 (Sixty
thousand euros).
Whether this toll is paid directly by the road-user, or
indirectly by the taxpayer, the cost will still have to be borne
by Irish citizens. The fact is that to build huge roads for the
traffic volumes which are typical on Irish roads is not
affordable, not because the country is poor, but because
there is not enough traffic to justify or pay for such roads.
The truth of this is borne out by the recent announcement by the
NRA, that intermediate road types (i.e. smaller than dual
carriageway) are being considered for the Rathkeevin to Cahir
road.
The issue of safety which Eddie has raised is most important.
There have indeed been deaths on this road over the past few
years, and the situation is unlikely to get better.
However, it is not true that the building a few dual
carriageways and motorways around the country will make a
significant impact on the numbers who die. This is because many
of the most dangerous roads in Ireland are not earmarked for any
significant remedial works. We suggest that the money which is
to be spent on a small number of over-sized projects could be
better spent on a larger number of more reasonably sized
projects. Indeed savings on road building could also be directed
at better enforcement of driving laws (such as drink-driving
which is still associated with half of all road deaths each
year), teaching drivers better road manners and driving skills
etc. In fact, the annual Garda report concluded that road
condition was the cause of about 5% of road fatalities in the
past year. This is still 5% too much, but lets not pretend that
a euro spent on other measures would not have a much bigger
effect on fatalities than even a hundred euros spent on dual
carriageway or motorway.
Am I right?
|
| 30 October 2002 |
|
| Name |
|
| Address |
|
| Comment |
get over it, times change. the NOT
IN MY BACK YARD croud have held this country back years and
escalated the cost of any form of building due to their fear of
change
|
| 11 April 2003 |
|
| Name |
King Amdo |
| E-mail |
King_Amdo@hotmail.com |
| Comment |
Hi!
People have to see the forest, the Derry, for the trees about
all this. Roadbuilding is the 'infrastructure' for
'westworlds' so called development trip. Globalization is
the buzzword, factories, retail parks, large housing development
follow, like a greedy monster. It is of course true that the
British colonialists saw fit to marginalise the native
population ov Eire to the status ov slaves, and so in these post
colonial times it alsmost seems churish to deny the natives the
chance to, in fact discard their bicyles and leap into modern
saloon cars etc.
However, blinking away the tears resulting from a false trip, we
have to see through the various illusions, and realise that, far
from killing the dragon spirit of the sacred mother goddess,
(Fuk ov st Patrick mainstream devil worshipers) we should
be innvoking her! and worshiping her! and protecting her! I
shall delight in pixying this road if it gets the go ahead.
Which it won't. Blessed be.
King Amdo.
(Check out www.lamberhurstbypass.com
for the perspective here in kent, England)
|
| 26 September 2003 |
|
| Name |
Tim Casterton |
| Comment |
The NRA scheme for a dual
carriageway is madness. If the money is there to spend, improve
the current road and use the balance to improve the rail service
on the Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel, Carrick, Waterford railway
line - commuter services etc. Makes sense!
|
| 31 May 2006 |
|
| Name |
Dr. Peter Collins |
| E-mail |
collins_p@hotmail.com |
| Comment |
The case made by the Argus group
is unanswerable in its logic. The difference in cost between a
realignment and construction of a dual carriageway is money that
is needed to bring forward the badly needed upgrade of much of
the rest of the N24 - particularly Cahir to Tipperary. (I am a
Limerickman with a Waterford mother; I know every foot of this
boreen laughably called a national primary route from 40 years
of travelling it.)
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