No hope of bypass for Wexford village despite HGV increases – ‘This needs to be done for the sanity of road users’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Despite huge increases in traffic and the impact on both the environment and the mental wellbeing of those living in the area, there is little hope of a bypass being built in Bunclody any time soon. At the October meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC) Councillor Barbara Anne Murphy raised the possibility of the traffic issues being alleviated in the Wexford village.

“How do we get this process started?” she asked. “The traffic through Bunclody is unbelievable. It’s causing huge problems and creating tailbacks, up to a mile long, at all times of the day. There’s no inner relief road. This needs to be done for environmental reasons and for the sanity of the people using that road.”

Director of services Eamonn Hore didn’t sugar coat his reply.

“It would be very costly, we’d have to discuss it with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), but I don’t think it’s on their agenda at all,” he said. “There might have been an inner relief road on a development plan some years ago, maybe we could do something in the short-term to that effect.”

Undeterred, Cllr Murphy continued to plead her case.

“There’s been a huge increase in traffic, particularly in heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), since Brexit, it’s unbelievable. And it’s impacting the air quality too.”

“There’s no point in being too optimistic,” advised Mr Hore. “This would be way down the line but we’ll look at it internally and see if there’s anything we can do to alleviate the traffic internally.”