Cullen urges faster development as road opens after 40-year wait

Development projects should be allowed to proceed without delay once the results of the planning process are known, Transport Minister Martin Cullen said yesterday at the opening of a Sligo road that has been awaited for almost 40 years.

The Minister was speaking after the opening of the €74 million Sligo inner relief road, a 4.6km stretch which it is hoped will ease the town's notorious traffic congestion.

A controversial project, the road was vehemently opposed by some who believed it was cutting through the heart of the town and so would split communities, while supporters viewed it as essential to ease gridlock.

"We have in Ireland the most open, transparent and fair planning system in Europe," Mr Cullen told the hundreds of local dignitaries, politicians and citizens who turned out for the opening.

Any citizen could participate in the planning process, but it was reasonable to expect that, once decisions were made, the result should be respected and projects progressed quickly.

"I say this in the context of a project which has taken so long to get to fruition," he added.

On the eve of the opening the mayor of Sligo, Cllr Rosaleen O'Grady, led an original fundraising project on the road when she and 3,000 locals walked the dual carriageway to collect money for the upgrading of breast-screening facilities at Sligo General Hospital.

Some €20,000 was donated to the collection buckets along the route, and funds are expected to continue pouring in via sponsorship cards.

Although the inner relief road was awaited for decades, Bernard Murphy, director of the contractor Ascon, pointed out that the contract had been completed eight months ahead of schedule.

Pointing to the difficulty of securing road contracts in the current competitive climate where international companies compete for the same business, Mr Murphy added: "Not everyone has the same labour costs."

The four-lane road runs from Carraroe on the Dublin side of the town to the Michael Hughes Bridge on the Donegal side. The development comprises 4.6km of standard dual carriageway and a further kilometre of single carriageway.

The project includes three bridges, a number of signal-controlled junctions, a roundabout at Summerhill College and cycle lanes. During a three-year archeological dig before construction, evidence was discovered of settlements dating back 6,000 years. A number of Bronze Age houses and burial grounds were unearthed.

Local Fianna Fáil TD Jimmy Devins predicted the road would significantly ease traffic congestion throughout Sligo but he conceded that the need for an extra traffic lane on Hughes Bridge would have to be examined.

O'Connell Street, Sligo's main street, is expected to be pedestrianised in the near future.