Efforts to secure a new bridge crossing for the River Shannon to ease the daily traffic gridlock experienced at Killaloe and Ballina suffered a blow yesterday.
This follows the Department of the Environment refusing Clare County Council the funding necessary to carry out a feasibility study to identify proposals to solve the worsening traffic situation in the towns on the shores of Lough Derg.
The 18th-century, 13-arch bridge that connects the towns is the main crossing point on the Shannon between the Co Galway town of Portumna and Limerick.
Built to accommodate the horse and cart, the bridge now caters for over 7,000 vehicles each day during the peak summer period, according to a traffic management consultants' study which is due to be published soon.
A widening of the bridge has already been ruled out due to heritage considerations.
The senior engineer with North Tipperary County Council, Mr Marcus O'Connor, said the bridge also caters for 800 pedestrians each day.
He said: "There is no footpath on the bridge and it is quite hazardous, so there is a safety issue there as well."
In response to the failure to secure funding for the feasibility study, Mr O'Connor said: "We're not giving up. A new bridge is absolutely critical to the area.
"The current bridge is substandard and the situation will only get worse with higher traffic volumes."
Clare's county engineer, Mr Tom Carey, said the National Roads Authority (NRA) is not interested in the problem, pointing out that the provision of a new bridge is beyond the scope of the typical funding available for non-national roads, which serve the bridge.
Mr O'Connor said yesterday: "It is an urgent issue so we will now be seeking a meeting with the Department of the Environment on how to progress our case."
In the short term, Mr Carey said, the two councils are currently drafting a plan that would put in place "a sophisticated traffic lights system at the bridge to ease the current traffic difficulties".
The Killaloe-Ballina Action Group has been campaigning for a new bridge for the past number of years. Last year, the action group made the provision of a new bridge the main element of the draft Killaloe-Ballina Development Plan.
The group's spokesman, Mr Oliver Kierse, said yesterday: "We are not surprised by the Department's decision.
"There are going to be setbacks, but this puts the onus on our politicians to stand up and be counted and ensure that the funding is secured."
He said: "The traffic management strategy along with the development plan will make it more difficult for those believing in the 'do nothing' scenario to sustain their argument."
Mr Kierse said that the drawing up of "the development has showed that there is a complete consensus over the need for the new bridge, and as an absolute minimum the councils must identify a route for the road".
Both new bridge options in the development plan anticipate a new road going east of Killaloe, before crossing the Shannon south of the two towns.
The preferred option is to make use of existing transport infrastructure while avoiding development as much as possible.
