Clare County Council says no plans or funding are currently in place to complete the Ennis Northern Inner Relief Road.
The proposed road, known locally as “the road to nowhere” was designed over 20 years ago to alleviate traffic on the outskirts of the town and to provide ease of access to what is now the Clare Technology Park.
The Northern Inner Relief Road was proposed to run from the N85 at Claureen northwards, through the Gort Road Industrial Estate, along the back of Our Lady’s Hospital, bridging over the railway line and onwards to the Tulla Road.
The original concept design then continued from the Tulla Road southwards through Cappahard and onwards to the Quin Road.
At a cost of €3.7m the first 520m section of the road linking the Gort Road to Ennis Information Age Park, which is now called Clare Technology Park opened in 2018, however there has been no progress since.
It was envisaged that the completed project would be developer led as part of any new housing or community schemes and that it would go on to access the Tulla Road via Oakleigh Wood at the Cappahard Roundabout.
In response to a query from Clare FM on foot of concerns raised by listeners, including that the delay in completion has created a choke point on the Gort and Lifford Roads and is leading to traffic delays of up to 40 minutes for commuters, Clare County Council says there are “Currently, no plans or funding for the scheme and if it was to be resurrected, the original design would need to be redone to take account of existing developments and new standards.”
However, the council anticipates that the linkage will be recommended in the Area Based Transport Assessment for Ennis which should be available in Draft stage later this year,
If included the local authority says it will strengthen the business case for the council to make a new application for funding and approval to the Department of Transport.
