Little hope of Wexford village being bypassed despite traffic fears – ‘stand outside the school and you’ll see cars whipping by’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

As one of the few villages in the region which hasn’t been bypassed, Clonroche in Co Wexford is continuing to bear the brunt of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and increased traffic from Rosslare Europort. And while an ongoing campaign to improve the safety of the neighbouring N25 – which connects Waterford to Glenmore – has begun to gain traction, those in Wexford are less confident about Clonroche and the N30 which goes through it.

At the June meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC) Councillor John Fleming asked whether a traffic review could be carried out in the village and was informed by director of roads, Mr Eamonn Hore, that a topographical survey had been done in Clonroche and funding had been sought for further studies.

Councillors then returned to the issue at the New Ross Municipal District (NRMD) meeting a couple of days later.

“As a district we should be pushing to get the Clonroche bypass back on track, it’s lethally hazardous,” said Cllr Michael Sheehan.

“It’s the only village you pass through from Belfast to Waterford, the volume of traffic there is frightening, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) need to wake up,” added cathaoirleach Cllr Bridín Murphy. “All you need to do is stand outside that school and you’ll see cars whipping by, parents are terrified of their children getting crushed under a truck.

"This is not a criticism of the local authority or the roads department, it’s a national problem. And it’s frustrating that we’re not getting any responses from TII. I asked its representatives to attend a meeting and they didn’t even respond.”

However, with work on a separate bypass from Rosslare to Oylegate set to commence in the coming years, Cllr Fleming feared that Wexford has used up all its opportunities for such large-scale projects.

“We’ve got so much money over the last number of years for bypasses that every other county is commenting on how much Wexford is getting,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve a rat’s ass of a chance of getting any more.”

And despite her concerns regarding road safety in the village, Cllr Murphy was similarly pessimistic.

“I hold no hope of that road being considered for funding,” she said. “Even though it can’t cope with the sheer volume of traffic on it.”