The proposed four-lane carriageway through Sligo town would form part of a national primary route, the sworn public inquiry into the construction of the N4 Inner Relief Road was told yesterday.
It was accepted by the project engineer, Mr Tom O'Malley, that traffic from Galway to Donegal would use the road, as well as drivers travelling from Dublin to Donegal who did not wish to go through Northern Ireland.
On the third day of evidence, Mr O'Malley was being cross-examined by Mr Damian Tansey, counsel for some of the objectors. A total of 46 objections to the road have been lodged.
Mr O'Malley, of McCarthy and Partners engineers, said that while the proposed four-kilometre stretch of road would form part of a national primary route, it would also serve the centre of Sligo.
He said that some of the traffic from Galway or Dublin to Donegal might want to stop in Sligo, and therefore it could not be regarded purely as "bypassable traffic". Earlier, Mr O'Malley said that only 15 per cent of the traffic in Sligo wanted to bypass the town completely.
Mr Tansey asked if there was any precedent in the State where a national primary route was brought through a residential area and taken so close to the centre of a town.
Mr O'Malley said inner relief roads had been built in Dundalk, Drogheda and Navan, but he could not say exactly how close to the town centres these roads were.
Because Sligo was on the coast it did not have as high a proportion of bypassable traffic as midland towns.
Mr Tansey pointed out that bypasses had been built in coastal towns such as Galway, which was the same size as Sligo 30 years ago. He said a bypass was also under construction at the moment in Donegal town, and listed other towns where bypasses had been built.
Mr O'Malley said a total of 15 options had been looked at to solve Sligo's traffic problems. This was then narrowed to nine. After taking a traffic survey into account, it was found that the inner relief route was the best option.
He accepted Mr Tansey's assertion that the route under consideration did not vary greatly from one first suggested in the late 1960s. "So in broad terms, the solution of 32 years ago is still seen as the most effective route today?" Mr Tansey asked. Mr O'Malley responded that this did not necessarily mean it was not the correct option for today.