Transport plan for Cavan Town

A new master plan is being drawn up to shape the future development of transport infrastructure in Cavan Town over the next 20 to 30 years. The draft document could be ready in a matter of months.

Elected members were told, however, that any proposal to extend the bypass of Virginia along the N3 as far as the Border with Fermanagh remains “very, very long term”.

Director of Services Paddy Connaughton was speaking at the October monthly meeting of Cavan County Council where concerns were raised over the readiness of local infrastructure to cope with an expected influx of through traffic once the bottleneck in Virginia is eliminated.

Virginia and Ballinagh bypasses are seen as priorities, and though he acknowledged the concerns expressed as “credible”, Mr Connaughton said there is a “modal hierarchy” that needs to be assessed.

Chief among them for Cavan Town into the future are the roll out of the Active Travel Scheme and support for public transport before any further major road investment projects can be approved. The planned reduction in urban speed limits is another factor that needs to be taken into account.

“We are looking at a long-term plan,” said Mr Connaughton at the meeting, adding that this assessment would also run the rule over more “localised solutions” to current traffic problems, such as on the Dublin Road.

Fianna Fáil's John Paul Feeley had asked that the council to call on Transport Infrastructure Ireland to provide funds to allow for the upgrade of the N3 to the border at Aghalane so the construction of the Virginia by-pass “does not simply move traffic delays” on to the junction of the N3 with the N55 outside Cavan Town.

He claimed that more than 10,000 vehicles are using the Cavan bypass every day, far in excess of its anticipated usage rate when first built nearly 25 years ago.

Cllr Feeley said “significant issues” already exist, leading to delays for drivers on a daily basis.

To open the road at Virginia would only move the problem further down the road, he said.

Fine Gael’s Winston Bennett described the motion as “timely”.

He said the need for a bypass in Virginia was being talked about 20 years ago, the estimation was that the route won’t now be ready until after 2030 at the earliest.

Cllr Bennett stated “now was the time to start having these discussions” about Cavan Town, “not in five to 10 years’ time”.

Tractamotors junction

There was support too from Cllr Patricia Walsh (FF), who highlighted a recent discussion around solutions for the junction at Tractamotors, said some days driving into Cavan Town meant being prepared to be “stuck for 15 minutes” in traffic.

“We need to push now because it’s not going to happen with a wave of a magic wand.”

Independent Brendan Fay said once Dunshaughlin was bypassed, the problem regarding traffic moved onto Kells and Virginia.

“We can’t let that happen to Cavan Town,” he told his fellow councillors.

Philip Brady (FF), Independent Ireland’s Shane P O’Reilly, Sinn Féin’s Noel Connell, and Cathaoirleach T.P. O’Reilly also contributed to the debate, the latter of whom said concerns regarding traffic through Cavan Town “needed to be looked at sooner rather than later”.