A gamechanger - alleviating a traffic black spot in the county

At a recent presentation by the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Deputy Michael Lowry requested that a bypass of Tipperary Town to be urgently included as a standalone project in the review of the National Development Plan.

In response, Minister Ryan acknowledged that Tipperary Town suffers from heavy volumes of freight traffic and high commercial vacancy rates. The minister also spoke of the urgent need to rescue the town from the traffic as soon as possible. Minister Ryan went on to say that “you could put in a bypass of Tipperary town as a first priority” in the overall delivery of the N24 between Cahir to Limerick Junction.

March4tipp, Tipperary Town Chamber and Jobs4Tipp welcome Deputy Lowry’s proposal and the Ministers endorsement, that the section around Tipperary Town should be the first element of the N24 realignment to be delivered as part of the Cahir to Limerick Junction works.

This could be a major game changer for Tipp Town. It means that the long fought for Ring Road could be realised as the section of the bypass that would eventually become part of the larger N24 realignment: It means that Tipperary Town could get a bypass of the town prior to the delivery of the whole N24 realignment.

Minster Ryan also went on to say: '”Maybe the best thing we can do is to pick particular black spots (like Tipperary Town)....to rescue the town from the traffic as quickly as we can. Getting to the likes of Tipperary Town quickly would be my priority.”

A further meeting took place between the five Oireachtas members and Minister Eamon Ryan where the Minister and the Tipperary TDs discussed the urgent need to address the issues of traffic in Tipperary Town. March4tipp expect all Tipperary TD's to vigorously support Deputy Lowry’s proposal and work together to deliver on their pre-election promises of a ring-road/bypass.

A meeting is due to follow very shortly between the minister and Tipperary County Council and the three groups will be closely monitoring Tipperary County Councils response. The groups expect the council to support Deputy Lowry’s proposal to prioritise the N24 realignment section around Tipperary Town as it is by far the worst affected area along the N24 Cahir to Waterford route.

The three groups already had a very successful meeting with the Minister, (organised by Deputy Mattie McGrath) He listened carefully to the impact the N24 traffic is having on the community and acknowledged the many issues that face the town as a direct result of the traffic congestion. Issues such as the increase in HGVs to Rosslare, the impact of noise and air pollution upon people’s health, the inability to deliver sustainable forms of transport (walking, cycling) and the extremely worrying high commercial vacancy levels in our town centre, these were all discussed in light of Governments Town Centre First Policy.

The three groups also met with Minister for Finance Michael McGrath (organised by Deputy Jackie Cahill) who agreed to financially support the bypass if it were to be included in the National Development Plan.