A proposed four-lane highway through Sligo was "the only way to solve the town's traffic problems", a sworn public inquiry into the construction of the road has been told.
The assertion was made by Mr Tom O'Malley of McCarthy and Partners, civil engineers, who designed the N4 inner relief road for Sligo Corporation and Sligo County Council, at the opening day of the public hearing. The inquiry was ordered by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, after a total of 46 objections were lodged by residents and property-owners opposed to the road. Twelve of these relate to compulsory purchase orders and 36 to the Environmental Impact Study on the project.
Yesterday Mr O'Malley outlined the proposed route, which runs though both the corporation and county council areas. He said a total of 15 options, including bypasses and inner relief routes, had been considered initially and that this was then narrowed to nine.
The inner relief route was selected as the best way of removing traffic from the most congested streets in and on the approaches to the town.
Referring to a traffic survey carried out in 1993, Mr O'Malley said it was found that outer bypass routes would not entice traffic away from the centre as 85 per cent of all peak hour traffic had its origin or destination in the centre.
"The inner relief road is the only way to solve Sligo's traffic problems," Mr O' Malley said. The road would be situated adjacent to car-parks on the periphery of the town centre and would relieve traffic congestion, reduce noise and enable the corporation to pedestrianise town centre streets.
He said the main problem in shopping streets in the centre at present revolved around conflicts between traffic and pedestrians. Since the 1993 survey, traffic had increased at an even faster rate than expected and if something was not done to cater for traffic bound for the town centre, then congestion would get worse, he said.