Cautious welcome for new Enniskillen bypass
A NEW bypass aimed at alleviating congestion in Enniskillen will not necessarily solve long-term traffic problems, Fermanagh councillors have claimed.
Preparatory work has commenced in recent days on the Cherrymount Link Road – an 8 million single carriageway on the northern side of the county town.
Funding for the full project has not yet been achieved.
The two kilometre route was initially expected to be completed by 2006, but has faced numerous setbacks.
The town has become synonymous with daily gridlock, exacerbated by an influx of southern shoppers from neighbouring border counties.
It is hoped the bypass will aid in taking a large volume of traffic away from the centre of Enniskillen. However, senior councillors believe while assisting to a certain degree, the measure will only move commuter queues elsewhere.
Plans for a public consultation on a separate more major southern bypass are expected to commence later this year.
Chairman of Fermanagh District Council, Robert Irvine, welcomed initial peripheral work on the Cherrymount link but admitted councillors were still concerned in the long term.
“The link road will ease a certain amount of traffic coming into the town from the north-east including Omagh, however an issue for councillors would be shunting the problem onto subsidiary routes on the edge of the town,” the UUP man said.
“Our contention is that the Cherrymount Road should be actually extended and link up with the main A4 (Belfast to Enniskillen) route, which is the thrust of the Cherrymount link to divert traffic around the town.”
Under the current plans, the route which will contain four new roundabouts, will connect the main Belfast Road with the main Omagh A32 route, via the existing Tempo Road.
Vice chair SDLP councillor Frank Britton, gave the development a “cautious” welcome.
“This will bring a lot of traffic onto the Tempo Road which already has tailbacks beyond the proposed Cherrymount link.
“The Tempo Road could become the new traffic jam,” he warned.
Mr Britton stressed a southern bypass “will help more than any other scheme to ease congestion in the town”.
Advance construction work at Cherrymount will take approximately 12 months. A contract to complete the works could be awarded later next year but is subject to the necessary funding being available.
Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy described the Cherrymount link as a “long awaited” scheme in the Fermanagh area.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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