This article is from page 2 of the 2011-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A LONG awaited section of the Ennis inner relief road is due to go to tender before the end of the month, according to Ennis Town Council.
The road, which will link Clare Road and Station Road, is being constructed to ease traffic flows in the town centre.
To facilitate the project, a significant redevelopment of one of Ennis’ best known buildings, Madden Furniture, has been underway for the past 12 months.
According to owner Michelle Madden, work on the building, which was formerly Paddy Con’s Hall, is nearing completion.
“Our building is practically finished. We should be open in a few weeks. We will be opening our showrooms in a few weeks and we welcome the road and we think its going to be good for Ennis and the town and traffic in the area,” she said.
Ms Madden added, “We had to demolish one end of it and build back up the side. Last September we started demolition. We’re very much looking forward to having it open and getting back to some sort of normality. We feel it’s going to be good for Ennis in general.”
According to the latest quarterly progress report on Council projects, section E of the inner relief road should be in place in 2012.
The report states, “The Council is proceeding to tender the works on E-tenders in early September. Temporary work will be in place at side of Madden’s furniture during the tender process until the contractor takes possession of the site. It is anticipated that the inner relief road works will take six months from the date of commencement”.
Speaking at the September meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said residents in Ardlea Road and Clare Road had concerns over the potential impact of the road on their property. He urged the Council to engage in a public consultation process with residents in the area.