Traffic congestion in Monaghan Town is getting "out of hand." That's according to Fine Gael Councillor Alan Johnston. He believes the current situation is creating a "serious loss" in productivity which has a knock-on-effect on the local economy, with shops, retailers and hospitality owners "missing out." With traffic congestion also creating significantly higher carbon emissions, Cllr Johnston believes action towards gaining a bypass for the town must be taken now. Speaking to Northern Sound, Cllr Johnston says a bypass has been talked about for years, yet nothing has been progressed at all. He says the local authority must try and get the bypass onto the national development plan with a review due out in the coming year that could provide funding opportunities.
Cllr Johnston explained; "It's just unfortunate that this is an issue that so many people are aware of even within the local authority yet nothing has been done about it. It's definitely something that I want to tackle, even it if takes a number of years - something must be done. Castleblayney has a full bypass, Carrickmacross has a full bypass, Monaghan has one side of a bypass towards Emyvale but on the Clones side there's severe bottlenecks and the traffic is backed up to the retail park. It's been 20 years since Monaghan Town had a road developed in the area so I think we need to focus on getting something done which will open up room for future development."
