Rural Louth bridge used as ‘a rat run’ for trucks from south Armagh

By Olivia Ryan, The Drogheda Independent

A Louth councillor has called for a weight restriction to be placed on a rural bridge in north Louth which he says is “used as a rat run by trucks from south Armagh.”

The bridge is part of a route from Toberona in Dundalk, a back road through the townland of Kilcurry to the Armagh Road, which leads to the border crossing between Louth and County Armagh.

"When you go that way you are crossing over St. John’s Bridge which was built in the 1830s or 1840s. When that bridge was built it was definitely not designed for 38 tonne articulated trucks.”

He said that as there was “no direct route from the Armagh Road to the M1” a lot of traffic was passing through this rural road in order to take a shortcut. This included tarmac lorries and other large vehicles carrying quarry materials.

"I know that the engineers have looked at this a number of times, but I think we have to bite the bullet and put a weight restriction on this road of seven and a half tonnes or ten tonnes.”

He said he had received a number of complaints about trucks using roads that were “completely inappropriate”.

Director of Service, David Hanratty said the matter would be referred to the roads engineer to assess the area.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Reilly said that with continued commercial development along the Armagh Road in Dundalk: "The best solution is ultimately a new link road which would connect the Armagh Road to the motorway directly. But for now we have to address the problems with large articulated trucks crossing a bridge which is simply not fit to carry that weight.”

He added that any changes would not affect local farmers as agricultural vehicles would be exempt from weight restrictions on the bridge.