Sir, - I wish to put on record my complete and total opposition to the N4 inner relief road.
In this day and age it is increasingly difficult to hold and keep communities together, be it in the human or natural environment. In our community, where we live, laugh, socialise and worship, this proposed motorway would, I believe, shatter this fabric beyond recognition, and replace it with a legacy of noise and pollution that this and future generations will not thank us for. Does Mr Tom O'Malley of McCarthy & Partners, civil engineers, really expect the residents in the immediate vicinity to agree to a "plan from hell" where his priority is traffic congestion eradication, but which will be to their detriment?
Royal commissions have been carried out in England over the past five years. They have conclusively proved that the more highways that are built, the more traffic will congest them. Mr O'Malley concedes that traffic has increased at an even faster rate than expected since the 1993 survey. So, with this damming evidence, should he be allowed to proceed with a plan that strikes at the heart of a community by actually facilitating its destruction? While other towns and cities around Europe are preserving their centres, this plan would destroy ours. We must relieve our traffic outwards to the boundaries with the appropriate highways. Ring roads would create infrastructure for industrial and retail use.
As I write, a multi-storey car park is already being constructed in the Quay Street area of town to cash in on the bonanza from the N4 route. Across the road from this monstrosity is a newly-erected apartment block. I will leave it to you, Sir, to imagine the level of noise and lead toxins these unfortunate residents would have to live with.
I have seen the video and plans of the venture, and I am now more concerned than ever before that the N4 inner relief highways would destroy a whole community, a priceless heritage, should it come to fruition. - Yours, etc.,
Francis Roberts, Ardee Drive, Sligo.