Residents of a housing estate in East Cork have welcomed the road running through their estate now been designated as a public road and say they hope the local authority will act quickly to prevent an accident on it.

The decision to declare the 2.3 km road at the Castlelake estate in Carrigtwohill a public road was taken by councillors at this week’s meeting of the Cobh Municipal District.

The Irish Independent reported in July that the road is being used by drivers avoiding busier roads, including vehicles coming from a nearby IDA industrial estate.

Residents have been calling for traffic and speed calming measures for some time.

“Just think of your average residential estate and think about tractors, articulated lorries, trucks carrying construction materials, big trailers passing through. It’s just crazy. There’s not even speed bumps to slow the traffic down,” one resident said.

Now that the estate road has been designated a public road, a resident told this newspaper that “the good thing about this is that we’ve somewhere to lobby to now.”

The estate, which was built over 20 years ago, is in the process of being taken in charge from the original developer by Cork County Council. The local authority has confirmed to the Irish Independent that it is engaging with agents for the developer.

“We will be straight into asking for a traffic management plan and the addressing of all the issues,” the resident said, adding that 20 HGVs had passed through the estate that day alone.

“There are now so many HGVs and buses, and they’re not doing 30 or 40, they’re doing 60, 70, 80 kmh. Then there’s all the traffic from the factories going through as well. It’s starting at five o’clock in the morning and at one o’clock the next morning as you’re nodding off you can still hear them going through.”

The resident said that people living in the Castleview estate hope that the county council will now “act straightaway on the ongoing issues and the traffic and the speeding. They have been warned so many times that it’s an accident waiting to happen.”

“Now that it’s in their remit we hope that they’ll be proactive in helping us address the situation because it’s a living nightmare. It’s insane the amount of traffic going through. It’s not an enjoyable quality of life for anybody living on this road.”

Speaking at the Municipal District meeting, Cllr Anthony Barry described the estate road as a “historical planning issue. How Cork County Council have given planning for through roads through the middle of estates beats me.”

He predicted the council will now be “inundated” with requests for traffic calming and speed reduction measures on the road.

“It is used as a rat run for people exiting the IDA estate. A lot of HGVs are using it, and it may be great that we’ve taken it in charge, but I can assure you there will be a cost associated with it for the council.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.