Traffic flow within a 50-mile radius of the site of the 2003 National Ploughing Championships will be affected in some way, the senior garda in charge of the traffic plan for the event said yesterday.
Insp John Moloney, Tullamore, who was at the site for the official launch of the event to be held near Kinnegad, Co Meath, said he was hopeful that the complex plan put in place for the week after next would run smoothly.
With more than 130,000 expected at the site, which is about five miles off the main Dublin-Galway road and close to the main Dublin-Sligo route, the inspector advised people travelling on September 23rd-25th to avoid Kinnegad if at all possible.
"We know that 60 per cent of the people come from the south and for that reason we are dividing the traffic from that side of the site at Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and at Portlaoise," he said.
Gardaí will be dividing the traffic from the south-east at the Curragh, Co Kildare, traffic from the west will be routed to the site via Rochfortbridge and Rhode and the northern traffic will be filtered from Navan and Kells through Kinnegad.
A series of one-way systems will be in place around the huge site, which has been laid with miles of steel trackway to facilitate the huge tented village that goes up next week.
"Our main problem will be keeping the through traffic to Galway from Dublin flowing in the morning and keeping the flow moving in the opposite direction in the evening when people are leaving the site," he said.
The ground work on the 520- acre site was progressing smoothly yesterday at the Moore family 470-acre farm and that of neighbour Mr George Cave, who is contributing 50 acres of ploughed ground. The main area will be a 90-acre field to house 650 exhibition stands and some of the ploughing competitions, which will see 320 ploughmen and women in action.