Road without signs should not have been open, inquest told

AN UNFINISHED stretch of roadway under improvement in Co Mayo on which a 22-year-old woman was killed in a collision nearly seven…

AN UNFINISHED stretch of roadway under improvement in Co Mayo on which a 22-year-old woman was killed in a collision nearly seven years ago should not have been open except under controlled conditions, an inquest was told yesterday.

Peter Faherty, a retired civil engineer, said cones and signage should have been in place and a 30 miles per hour limit in force on the N59 at Murrivaugh, Mulranny, where Ashling Gallagher, a college graduate, from Bunnacurry, Achill Island, was killed on December 22nd, 2004.

Ms Gallagher died at the scene after her Volkswagen Caddy van swerved on to its incorrect side into a cement mixer truck.

Mayo County Council, which was carrying out road improvements at the spot where Ms Gallagher lost her life, denies any responsibility.

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The surface on which Ms Gallagher had been driving was dense bitumen macadam (DBM).

Mr Faherty, who carried out a consultancy report on behalf of UK-based Atkins Highways and Transportation, yesterday told the inquest, which is being conducted by coroner for south Mayo John O’Dwyer, there should not have been traffic on the stretch of road except in a controlled situation.

The witness said the contractor did have signage and cones in place and measures in place for traffic but these had been taken away and road markings put down. To any motorist it looked like a normal finished road.

Earlier, Dr John Bullas, a UK-based research consultant, told the inquest the fatal crash had occurred on an incomplete road surface. He explained that DBM was a binder course – a layer that gave it shape and camber. It was not engineered to be driven on. He added: “The failure by Mayo County Council to provide an approved road surface is compounded by the provision of what would appear to road users of final road markings, indicating that the road was complete.”

Dr Bullas said the results of tests undertaken on the N59 roadway, in accordance with National Road Authority requirements, did not satisfy the authority’s standards for a permanent road.

John Jordan, counsel (with Aongus O’Brolcháin) for the council, told the hearing it was not accepted the stretch of road was not fit for traffic at the normal speed limit on the day of the crash.

The inquest, being heard before a jury, continues today.