Dunboyne residents’ delight after work to close off notorious through road is completed

Motorists will no longer be able to use the St Patrick’s Park in Dunboyne as a rat run, as work to close off the through road has been completed.
The closure comes as a major relief to local residents who have been campaigning for its closure because of the “intolerable level of traffic” driving through the estate.
“We are now extremely happy to report that a permanent road closure has taken place,” says Nuala Breslin, secretary of St Patrick’s Park Residents Committee.

“We experienced intolerable levels of traffic going through our estate for several years. The level of traffic was exacerbated with the opening of a new SuperValu development in March last,” she said.
The residents committee was formed in July 2018 by fed up residents, who said their estate was choked with heavy traffic from morning ‘til night.
They have resolutely campaigned since then to have the road closed.

They pointed out that since the closure of the old Navan Road, a lot of traffic coming into Dunboyne from the Summerhill side had been using St Patrick’s Park as a “rat run” or shortcut to the old Navan Road. “We have been in ongoing and persistent contact with council officials and county councillors in our efforts to achieve closure. During this time we have had several meetings and engaged in a very significant volume of correspondence,” Nuala points out.
“We acknowledge with thanks the support of the seven Ratoath Municipal District Councillors and the officials of Meath County Council who were involved in this project.
“We especially extend our thanks to Dara McGowan, SEO, Meath County Council for his commitment and outstanding input in achieving this long awaited road closure.

“Residents are extremely happy with this outcome, which will permit a safer environment for all, especially children and elderly people living on our road,” she said.  
Meath County Council agreed last January to close the estate to through traffic for a trial period and the closure has now been made permanent.   
During their campaign, residents pointed out it wasn’t just cars using the road, but also skip lorries and HGVs.
 They said there were times when residents could not get in or out of their own driveways with the huge volume of traffic passing by. 
 A traffic survey found that 1,300 cars passed though in a 12 hour period and that 90 per cent of the traffic using it were using it as a rat run.