Residents of Monkstown in south Dublin are to stage a protest march next Saturday and lobby councillors in a campaign to get the proposed €15 million Monkstown bypass scrapped.
The road, which has been proposed since the 1970s, was earlier this year approved by Bord Pleanála and is designed to carry up to 30,000 vehicles a day. It would link Stillorgan Park with the Stradbrook area of Blackrock.
At 30,000 vehicles a day, the traffic volumes would be higher than levels on the Dublin to Sligo road at the toll motorway. It will require the demolition of Yankee Terrace, a row of 11 19th-century cottages, and five properties on Newtownpark Avenue and Annaville Terrace.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council said the road would cater for the transportation requirements of the county, promote and strengthen Dún Laoghaire and Stillorgan, attract traffic from less suitable roads and make Newtown Park village more accessible.
However, locals along the route claim the bypass is being put in place to facilitate large-scale redevelopment at Stillorgan Shopping Centre, the Stillorgan Bowl and the Blakes site, via Stillorgan Park with other large-scale developments at Dún Laoghaire Golf Club.
They also claim the bypass would become another access route between Dún Laoghaire Port and the N11.
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county manager Owen Keegan has scheduled Monday next for a council debate on the bypass, at which he will seek approval to start construction. However, opponents have written to all members of the council urging them not to support the plan. They are also planning a protest march for Saturday next.
A spokesman for opponents of the scheme, Seán Mulvihill, said he hoped to see 250 to 300 people on Saturday's protest march to send a message to councillors that the bypass was not wanted.
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