Twenty years in the making, vital link road of just over 135 metres is finally completed

It has been 20 years in the making but on Monday next, a vital Sligo city link road will open to traffic. It is planned to open the Mail Coach Road to Burton Street link road to traffic at 10am. Traffic lights will operate at the junction of Pearse Road and Sidney Gallagher Parade. The project was held up for years over issues surrounding ownership of the last 31 metres of land required for the road to be completed on to Pearse Road from Mail Coach Road. A Compulsory Purchase Order was finally required to complete the remaining 31m of the road. The new traffic light controlled junction at Pearse Road/Burton Street which will be operational on Monday morning. Negotiations initially took place between 2006 and 2008 in relation to the acquisition of the land required. Some 104 metres of road was developed up to the point where the final 31 metres began. The issue of purchasing the final 31 metres of land to allow the link road to be completed was raised on several occasions over the years at local authority meeetings by long serving councillor Declan Bree. Work finally began last September.