By Dan Walsh
Over 80,000 people are expected daily at the three-day National Ploughing Championships this week in Screggan, near Tullamore, Co. Offaly and attendees should familiarise themselves with the traffic management plan for their route.
An Garda Síochána has a significant Traffic Management and Parking Plan in place for the three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 16th, 17th and 18th.
People travelling from Co. Wexford will be using the routes via Kilkenny and Carlow and the routes to the site are as follows:
GREY ROUTE – Traffic from South East (Kilkenny). Traffic travelling from Kilkenny/South East will travel North along the N77 via Durrow and Abbeyleix before arriving at Portlaoise where traffic will be directed left at Junction 17 through Clonminham and onwards to Fairgreen Portlaoise, travelling along the N80 to Mountmellick. At Derryclooney Bridge, Mountmellick traffic will be directed left and onto the R422 through Rosenallis and Clonaslee. At Coolagh Cross traffic will be directed right onto the R421 (Killurin Road). At Killurin Cross traffic will be directed left towards the event site at Screggan, Tullamore and parking beside the event site.
Parking: Patrons on this route will park in the designated GREY Car Parks beside the event grounds at Screggan.
YELLOW ROUTE – Traffic from the South East (Carlow). Traffic travelling from Carlow and the South East will travel on the N80 towards Portlaoise. At Bloomfield Roundabout, Portlaoise traffic will be directed right onto Rathbrennan and onto Junction 16 (M7). Traffic will then turn left to the Heath and left again at the Wheel Inn pub (sign-posted Portarlington). Traffic will proceed to Kennells Cross and be turned left and travel towards Mountmellick town. All traffic will be directed through Mountmellick town and onto Tullamore via Killeigh. Traffic will then proceed to parking beside the event grounds.
Parking: Patrons on this route will park in the designated ‘YELLOW Car Parks beside the event grounds at Screggan.
The assistance of all road users is required to allow traffic to move freely to and from the event.
For those attending the National Ploughing Championships, please view in advance the Traffic Management Plan for the correct route to take depending on where you are travelling from.
It is essential that drivers don’t use SatNav-type devices as they may not have the up-to-date information on the specific traffic diversions for this event. Over the course of the event persons are asked to listen to and comply with any direction by An Garda Síochána or stewards.
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