Sir, - Frank McDonald's report on the proposal by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county council to complete the Monkstown ring road highlights the sad case of the turn of the century houses in Yankee Terrace which must be demolished. You, sir, even sent out a photographer to photograph the terrace.
We can all sympathise with the people in the terrace, but I'm afraid those of us who don't enjoy the luxury of strolling to the office from our penthouse suites are more concerned with the appalling problems we face every day on our way to work, school or whatever. The traffic congestion in this area is reaching crisis point, with heavy transcontinental lorries thundering through day and night, with construction trucks going around on roads that were designed for turn of the century traffic.
Now, when once again the council's planners produce a solution that will go a long way to ease the lot of thousands of householders, The Irish Times dangles irrelevancies before us instead of responsible presentation of the facts.
The Monkstown ring road was first aired in public in the early 1970s - the need was recognised even then by the professionals. But for one reason or another nothing happened. In 1995 the county council produced a study on the benefits of the ring road, only 500 metres of which remain to be completed. Of course, a small number of householders will suffer in the process but a multitude of others, the vast majority, will benefit, especially those who have put up with the unnecessary extra traffic on their roads all these years.
The study was a detailed one and no doubt it was available at the time to your environment correspondent. It shows that when the remaining section of road is opened, traffic on Newtown Park will fall by 7,700 vehicles a day, Newtown Park Avenue by 6,500, Stradbrook Road/Deans Grange Road by 9,000. There will be an enhanced quality of life for thousands of residents and passers through, and a new lease of life for the ancient village of Newtown Park. Nothing "contentious" about this.
Naturally, there will be increased traffic on the ring road but purchasers of houses on the route were told 20 years ago that the road was being proposed and the benefits of the existing section at Stillorgan Park are there to be seen and enjoyed by motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. It defies logic that the remaining 500 metres of new roadway should not be finished.
The draft development plan is now available in council offices and libraries, and every resident within a mile of the proposed road should study it, and the 1995 study, for themselves. People should then let their public representatives know their opinions and insist that majority opinion rules, rather than hidden agendas.
At least Frank McDonald has achieved some good: he has alerted us all to how near we are to some relief from the traffic jams. For this he must be thanked. - Yours, etc.,
Rowan Park, Blackrock.