Donegal County Council has been asked to examine junctions connecting to the N56 due to concerns over the road surface.
Residents in the area have raised fears over the Blue Banks junctions at Coolboy, Cashelgay, Illistrin and from the Leitir Road approaching Kilmacrennan.
Conditions during times of frost have been described as seriously slippy, and residents have reported a number of near-miss accidents on approach to the N56.
Councillor Michael McBride has asked the council to explore adding safety measures such as a high-grip tar.
“When something happens it will be too late,” Cllr McBride warned at the January MD meeting.
Cllr John O’Donnell added his frustration over the lack of foresight on the issue.
“It makes me physically sick to be here at the meeting discussing this location,” Cllr O’Donnell said.
“At the time of the construction of this road, I met members from the National Road Design office, Donegal Town, the engineer, with residents raising their concerns over this particular location, they took the time to come down. The answer we got was that ‘we have looked at it’ ‘there’s no safety concerns here'”
“Now we are sitting here in January 2021 and we are discussing the safety concerns residents had raised at the time. It’s embarrassing for myself as a public representatives.”
“There is lives at risk, be under no illusions,” he said.
Cllr O’Donnell added that the junction from Leitir into Kilmacrennan is “like a skating rink” in times of frost and asked for gritting boxes to be installed for residents to use.
Cllr Liam Blaney also added a call for the junction at Illistrin, coming from Ballyarr Road to be examined also. He said frost was not the issue, but the road surface was also slippy.
Cllr McBride said the concerns tell that all junctions leading onto the new section of the N56 need to be examined.
The council responded to say that the Road Safety Engineer will assess the issues that are occurring at this location. The department will also assess if there any actions that can be taken as part of the Winter maintenance programme that could remedy this issue.
