A single carriageway stretch of the N11 in Co Wicklow, where one man died and four other people were injured yesterday in a three-vehicle accident, is due to be replaced because it is recognised as dangerous.
Gardaí said the accident occurred at about 4.30pm when a VW Golf van going southwards was in collision with an articulated lorry heading north.
A second car, a Peugeot estate which was travelling behind the Golf was also involved in the collision.
Emergency workers had to use cutting equipment to free three people in the Peugeot, described as a middle-aged couple and an 18-year-old woman.
The three occupants of the Peugeot and the driver of the Meath-registered lorry were taken to St Vincent's hospital in Dublin where the woman's condition was described as serious.
The condition of the others was described as not life-threatening. The young man who died was aged 19 and was said to be from Co Wicklow.
The N11 was closed to both north and southbound traffic from before 5pm and tailbacks developed up to several miles in each direction as diversions were put in place. Last night gardaí brought in heavy lifting equipment to remove the lorry which had come to a stop about 20 feet from the front door of a house.
The section of road is part of a 10-mile single carriageway stretch of the N11 which connects to dual carriageways north of Arklow and south of Rathnew.
Rescue workers said that up to 20 people had been killed on it over the past decade. The dead include a number of schoolchildren whose bus was in collision with a lorry a short distance from the scene of yesterday's crash.
Last month a man was killed when his car was in collision with a bus about one-mile away.
The NRA has said this type of road is among the State's most dangerous. Wicklow County Council and the NRA have plans to replace it with a dual carriageway.
