"Oh for the lovely roads of Ireland of my earlier days," says a man who is a long way from being a centenarian. "Going west, even 30 years ago, mind you, it was wise to get on to the road early. Things were always a bit tight at, say, Kinnegad, but you could put up with a bit of delay when you knew what was in front of you: Connemara or even the boat to Aran. Nowadays you wouldn't recognise the route, with all those bypasses. No more looking out for this garden to compare how its trees, planted at the same time as your own, were doing: all by-passed. You miss this splendid pub decoration or that unique cottage. They have been bypassed." It might have been in a different age - and it was. But the biggest problem is around Dublin, the capital. For today it has reached out, so that people find it better, because of lunatic house prices, to buy fifty miles, or even more, from the city, and travel in and out by car. The long lines of blazing headlights on a winter's evening, put a great strain on all but the fittest or most philosophical of travellers.
So, on to bypasses. Meath, for example, has some problems. Recently it was stated in The Meath Chronicle that decisions would be made in March on the Dunshaughlin and Ashbourne bypasses. Thus Mr Oliver Perkins, County Engineer. In fact the Dunshaughlin one seems to include the route from Clonee to Kells, thus bypassing Navan too. And then there is a reference to the same from Kells to south of Cavan. Cllr Mick Killian, quoted this week, says the residents of Dunshaughlin are being traumatised by the delays in giving out the plans "worried that their homes could be knocked to accommodate the new road." And those living in Dunshaughlin were being smothered with traffic fumes and business was suffering because nobody wanted to stop there.
There's another aspect to this. What happens to speeding when the new roads arrive. Already the Chronicle has a heading: "Up To 100 Motorists Break Dunshaughlin Speed Limit Per Hour." Per hour! And, as the Gardai tells us `speed kills'. These were only for doing speeds of 45, 46 and 50 mph in a 30-mile limit, but the principle is there. Fines: £150 each for three who neglected to pay the statutory £50. Wait until the new roads go in! Y