Need for ring roads in Laois towns cannot continue to be ignored, says local TD

The years-long battle for relief roads in two Laois towns is urgently needed to resolve major traffic congestion, according to a Laois TD.

Brian Stanley TD has told the Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, that the Government cannot continue to ignore the urgent need for relief roads to be constructed in Mountmellick and Portlaoise. 

Speaking in the Dáil during a debate on infrastructure, Deputy Stanley said: "The N80 goes through the town centres of Portlaoise and Mountmellick. It is causing chaos in both towns and no progress is being made on relief roads. Mountmellick relief road was promised 20 years ago.

"All traffic from the Midlands and the west, including a large number of HGVs, is going through the town centre of Mountmellick trying to negotiate tricky junctions, going through O'Connell Square and past the very busy secondary school."

The Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route was originally proposed during the Celtic Tiger, with Laois County Council envisaging that the project would be funded by development levies charged on developers building housing estates that would be accessing the road. 

This plan was abandoned when the economy collapsed. However, the demand for the road persisted. It was later added to the National Development Plan, although it was eventually removed.

Deputy Stanley told Minister Chambers: "A route has been selected. The surveys have been done. The council has played its part. However, it is being ignored for decades by the Government and that is not good enough. Portlaoise has two national secondary routes going through it, namely, the N78 and the N80. There is a huge population around it.

"The population of Portlaoise is increasing. The towns of Mountmellick and Portlaoise are gridlocked much of the day. People living on the Ballyfin Road, Harpur's Lane and Greenmill Lane have huge difficulties, trying to get out onto that road. Trucks have to pass under a very low bridge. They often hit the bridge, and everything stops for a number of hours."

The Laois TD called for roundabouts to be installed at junctions on the N80, but insisted that the Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route is still necessary.

"I am calling for small roundabouts at the junctions of Ballyfin Road, Greenmill Lane and Harpur's Lane. However, we really need the Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route, which will connect the N80 at Fairgreen right across to the Dublin Road. That is a priority project of Laois County Council, as is the Mountmellick bypass, but the Government does not seem to be listening," Deputy Stanley said.

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The Independent Republican TD demanded: "I want the Government to take this on board here today. It would not just shorten journeys. It would lessen the gridlock in Portlaoise town and in Mountmellick, and it would free up hundreds of acres for housing development. A lot of housing development is being pushed to Portlaoise, but we do not have the infrastructure. Both Mountmellick and Portlaoise need relief roads. The Government cannot keep ignoring it."

Fellow Laois TD, Willie Aird, also raised the need for the ring road with National Transport Authority officials at a recent committee meeting in the Dáil.

Deputy Aird urged that the Portlaoise Northern Orbital Route be put back on the Government's agenda as traffic is "a total joke" in Portlaoise. 

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme