Two injured in three-car crash at Wicklow N11 black spot

A CAR was knocked into the wall of Jack White’s Pub on the N11 in Co Wicklow yesterday in a three- car crash. Two men were taken to hospital.

A bypass for the accident black spot is one of a number of public-private partnerships that have been stalled due to the State’s financial position.

The 19km N11 link road from the Arklow to Rathnew bypasses has been the scene of more than 16 deaths over as many years.

In the immediate vicinity of Jack White’s Cross, where yesterday’s crash occurred, there are four memorial stones to those who have been killed on this section of the road.

Witnesses said yesterday’s crash happened after a Volkswagen Polo car travelling southbound on the N11 left the road at about 11.45am.

They said the car travelled into the car park of Jack White’s pub striking two other cars, an Audi A4 and a Toyota Avensis estate, pushing the Toyota against the wall of the pub itself.

The Toyota struck the wall of the pub within metres of the front door.

According to witnesses, a number of people were walking around the car park at the time.

Two ambulances rushed to the scene along with two units of the Co Wicklow fire brigade, one of which was equipped with specialist cutting equipment.

Gardaí closed one lane of the N11 for a number of hours. The two male drivers injured in the crash were taken to hospital where their injuries were said not to be life threatening.

It is thought that the Audi was unoccupied at the time of the crash.

The roadway is the last remaining single-carriageway stretch of the N11 in Co Wicklow.

Compulsory purchase orders for the land required to upgrade the road to dual carriageway status were confirmed by An Bord Pleanála in January 2005, at which time Wicklow County Council said that it was ready to implement the scheme.

However, construction funding failed to appear in the National Roads Authority allocations over successive years.

Late last year the roads authority said the scheme had been rolled into a public-private partnership project, which included work on Newlands Cross in Co Dublin and which would go to tender this year.

Just last week, however, it was revealed that uncertainty surrounding Ireland’s ability to secure private finance for infrastructure, given the economic situation, had again delayed the project.

Last night the National Roads Authority said the scheme was dependent on private finance and would be dependent on the attitude of the international financial markets.