Ballinacurra-based councillor, Jim Long, said that the flyover-part of the Shannon Tunnel scheme-“was never an issue because we were always led to believe that it would be standard” and claimed “the average gradient [slope] for something like this is 5.3%. I reckon this is closer to 6.2%”.

“I raised it in April that no-one was told about the gradient of the slope. Limerick is the third largest city in Ireland and this is on the main Cork and Kerry route into the city. People coming in are faced with this obnoxious flyover and the footfall of pedestrians has fallen off because it's so hard to negotiate,” said Cllr Long.

A recent report by the National Roads Authority (NRA) said that “the approaches to this bridge have always been intended to be 6%, and this is mentioned in the Environmental Impact Statement dated September 2003” and “although a flatter gradient would clearly be more desirable” the slope is “quite permissible” under the guidelines.

Cllr Long dismissed this as “rubbish” and said he met with officials many times as chairman of the Ballinacurra Residents' Association and the intended slope was not explicitly referred to.

“If I had known I would've said something. The report basically says: 'We told you years ago that this is what we were doing and now we've done it so what's the argument?””

Senior Executive Engineer, Jari Howard, admitted that the flyover is “steeper than normal” for Limerick as a “fairly flat city” but said that it is used elsewhere and a 6% gradient was “unavoidable” in this case.

“Within the design allowance, we try to minimise the gradient but we can sometimes be caught with contraints. It is tying into the existing roads so we had to get a certain height over the railway line and the river, for example. It's a difficult location and if we could have kept it lower, we would have.”

He added that the flyover could technically have been “steeper” and still be under guidelines for wheelchair accessibility.

“The gradient was identified in documents when the project went for planning in 2003. It didn't get raised because people probably didn't realise what a 6% gradient was. Nothing was hidden; it's there in black and white in the drawings.”

Cllr Long said that he “knows that it's not going to be knocked but I want answers as to how this happened”.

Director of Service for Transport and Infrastructure at the city council, Pat Dromey, said that he will facilitate a meeting between councillors and relevant stakeholders to discuss the flyover and it will also be debated at a council meeting when it reconvenes in September.

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