Leitrim County Council expressed dissatisfaction over the level of consultation involved in the routing of the N15 bypass of Bundoran and Ballyshannon in Co Donegal, an An Bord Pleanala hearing was told yesterday.
There would be no direct access to the new road from north Leitrim.
The second day of the hearing was told that the main arterial route in north Leitrim, the R280 from Manorhamilton to Kinlough, could only access the new road via the town of Bundoran, and would not be directly linked.
Dr D. O Cinneide from the traffic research unit at UCC said: "It appears that the question of providing a junction at the R280 depends primarily on a trade-off between traffic efficiency and the potential development of north Co Leitrim."
Leitrim County Council expressed dissatisfaction over the level of consultation about the proposed route, and as a proscribed body, it should have been conversant with plans from an early stage, it was claimed. This was strongly rejected by Donegal County Council.
The hearing was told of concerns over increased decibel levels and community severance in the locality of a bridge crossing the River Erne.
On the northern side of the bridge, two local housing estates will be severed if the plan goes ahead.
Concerns were also expressed by the Sheil Hospital as to the proximity of the bypass to it and on the banks of the River Erne, where many elderly patients are in residence. However, it was stated that the North Western Health Board was not objecting to the route of the bypass.
Mr Oliver Feighan, a Bord Pleanala inspector, was told Ballyshannon residents were in favour of a bypass, but objected fundamentally to the route option. They claimed little consideration had been given to an option, later discarded, that a crossing could be made across the River Erne to the east of the town's ESB hydro-electric station, with little effect on residents. This was rejected by Donegal County Council.