‘Old Belturbet Road’ to replace ‘Erne Hill’ as bypass sign

Seamus Enright

It seems the winding road of contention and the ongoing débâcle over signage on the Belturbet N3 bypass is nearing an end, with the National Roads Authority agreeing pay for and put in place new route postings.
The sign highlighting ‘Erne Hill’, which has been in place at the Drumalure junction since the bypass was opened on August 2, some 13-weeks-ago is to be replaced by one that reads ‘Old Belturbet Road’.
The move to alter the signage was revealed to the members of the local town council which met on last Monday evening, with acting town clerk John Brannigan explaining the NRA themselves had approved the new design.
He informed the members the sign reading ‘Old Belturbet Road’ would, following a series of discussions with the County Council, be put in place in the “next few weeks” and the work was being carried out and paid for by the NRA.

Unclear
However, it is as yet unclear whether local businesses in the town will be completely satisfied by the move, many of whom have indicated to The Anglo-Celt there has been a serious drop-off in passing trade since the new road opened. The belief is that while the new roadway would have naturally diverted traffic away from the town, the confusion over signage has not helped matters.
This sentiment was expressed at a recent meeting of Cavan County Council where the a resolution was promised by the executive.
The Council has previously indicated that the serious traffic accident history on the former main route into the town was a major factor in not highlighting it as the primary route initially.

Stupid
Belturbet area councillors were among those to the forefront of the complaint, Fianna Fail’s Sean Smith saying it had been a “stupid mistake” which “makes no sense at all.
Belturbet doesn’t deserve this. This has dragged on too long, the bottom line is businesses are suffering”.
Meanwhile, the local traders seeking extra passing trade may in fact have their prayers answered, for a short time at least with the Council indicating that from the end of November and into December the current partially opened section will be closed off to facilitate the completion of the new bridging point at Aghnaguig Bog near Annagh Lake.
The Belturbet bypass is projected to be at least one year late despite a budgeted cost to the tax-payer of almost €10 million a kilometre.
The NRA confirmed to this paper earlier this year that the deadline for the €61 million project, initally February 2013, would pushed back to the first quarter of 2014.