Managment of the extensive oil spillage on the N 18 last Friday has been branded as "a fiasco" with many road users caught up in the traffic chaos for up to six hours.
A section of the Limerick to Ennis Dual Carriageway had to be closed from Setright’s Cross to Sixmilebridge on Friday which resulted in long tailbacks to the Limerick Tunnel and along the Ennis Road to the Two Mile Inn.
Council crews worked extensively throughout Friday evening to clear up the spillage and by midnight one lane had reopened to traffic but the N 18 northbound wasn’t fully operational until after lunchtime Saturday .
It’s lead to calls for a contra flow system to be put in place on the dual carriageway in the event of closures on one side – due to the lack of suitability of diverted routes to take the level of traffic being directed away from the N 18.
The council admits there’s no specific plan in place to deal with such a motorway closure and that communications could have been better – but insists its priority was to clear up the spillage fully and that the long delays couldn’t have been prevented.
