N40/South Ring Road is plagued with almost daily jams
12:35, 22 Nov 2025Updated 12:53, 22 Nov 2025
It’s the busiest traffic route in Munster, used by over 90,000 motorists every day (by some counts) and plagued by delays and jams that are often caused by relatively minor accidents that can nevertheless take an hour or more to clear.
Over the past week alone – CorkBeo carried three seperate live and rolling reports on severe delays on the N40/South Ring Road – all caused by relatively minor accidents, all delaying thousands of road users.
Anybody who travels the N40/South Ring road on a regular basis will know the scenario and it’s usually around morning or evening rush hour. There is an accident, often at a spot where traffic merges onto the main route, usually a relatively small collision with no serious injuries. However, the damaged cars stay in place, at least one lane is blocked and tailbacks start immediately. There are often secondary incidents in the vicinity of the first crash – possibly caused by people rubbernecking as they fight their way through heavy traffic.
Now one local representative is saying enough is enough – and that he has been told that it will take the deployment of a specialist Garda unit to effectively tackle the chronic issues on the South Ring.
Labour Cllr Peter Horgan says Gardai have to be stationed on or around the road – especially at peak traffic hours – to swoop in and start directing traffic and handling the clearing of damaged vehicles as accidents happen.
Cllr Horgand said: “A specific N40 Roads policing unit is needed. I am writing to the Garda commissioner to request that a specific unit be created as a matter of urgency and staffed with additional new members and not taken from existing units in Cork”.
There are tow trucks stationed at key points on the N40/Dunkettle system. But Cllr Horgan says he has been told that what is needed is Gardai on site to clear the way for them to operate, direct traffic around the incidents and quickly clear the roads of damaged vehicles.
“A dedicated Garda unit would allow crashes to be moved faster to allow traffic flow to resume,” said the Cllr in response to questions from frustrated road users on social media.
His call has been almost universally backed by commuters responding to the issues raised on social media – with commentators adding: “I’ve been saying this for 10 years – but it falls on deaf ears”.
Another N40 regular said: “It’s the same thing virtually every day – somebody gets it wrong trying to merge, there’s a crash and the two cars just sit there for ages, blocking the lanes.”
Another commenter made a different – but no less valuable point, saying: “If there were a half-decent and reliable public transport system in place in Cork, it would relieve some of the traffic congestion. But everyone has to drive because they can’t rely on a bus or train to show up”.