A section of the N18 in Co Clare has reopened after it had to closed to traffic for almost five hours this afternoon when a van collided with a high-tension cable barrier leaving it in an unsafe condition.
The incident occurred at around 1.15pm in the northbound carriageway between the footbridge at Setrights in Cratloe and the turn off for Ballymorris. The van travelled for about 50 metres over the barrier before coming to a stop however, the driver was uninjured.
Gardaí and units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Shannon station responded to the incident along with Traffic Infrastructure Ireland (TII) road maintenance crews.
A section of the safety barrier was damaged in the impact while one cable was left lying across lane 1. The cables remained under tension however and had to be made safe before the van could be removed.
A team of TII technicians had to be deployed to ‘de-tension’ the cables in the affected section of barrier. They used specialist equipment to remove tension from the cables and once this was completed, fire crews set about releasing cables and posts from beneath the van.
The van was recovered from the scene and the route partially reopened at around 6.30pm.
Fire crews implemented an emergency traffic management system to allow one lane to be opened so traffic while TII personnel could continue to work safely on repairing the barrier.
