TII to meet council to address dangerous N20 junctions 

Senior Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) officials have agreed to meet a delegation from Cork County Council to discuss repeated crashes at a number of dangerous junctions on the main N20 Cork-Limerick Road.

County councillors have become increasingly concerned about almost daily traffic incidents at junctions between Rathduff, on the northern outskirts of Cork city, and Charleville.

The council had asked senior TII officials to come to Cork to meet them, but the transport authority said it didn’t have the time to send personnel to council meetings as there were so many demands for this across the country.

Instead, TII said it is willing to meet with council officials and councillors representing the Kanturk/Mallow Municipal District area, which oversees the N20 between Rathduff and Charleville.

Fine Gael councillor Liam Madden has repeatedly raised serious safety concerns at the junctions, saying crashes are becoming far more commonplace and safety-enhancing works are urgently needed on them.

He maintained that TII doesn’t seem to realise the seriousness of the situation and it needs to be addressed as a matter of priority because it could be 10 years before the M/N20 upgrade is completed.

In the meantime, Mr Madden said traffic volumes on the road have drastically increased since covid and will continue to grow.

“Will we have to have more people killed on this road before we get some action?”

Mr Madden said the community association in Mourneabbey had raised the seriousness of the situation with him.

He said there were recently three crashes at one of the junctions in one evening, and to him this was an obvious indication that the situation is getting worse.

The introduction of steel cabling on several sections to separate carriageways has cut down on crashes but not at the junctions.

Fine Gael councillor Tony O’Shea said the council has “repeatedly flagged” concerns about the junctions to TII. He said motorists queuing to get out of the junctions are becoming very frustrated and this is one of the main causes of collisions.

“They could be sitting there waiting up to 30 minutes [at peak times] to get out onto the main road. They are getting frustrated and taking chances, that’s the problem,” Mr O’Shea said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Gearóid Murphy, chair of the municipal district, said they would write to TII seeking a date for a meeting as soon as possible.