FOR THE SECOND time this year, all roads lead to Stradbally in County Laois.
But from Robert Plant to John Deere, the town of Electric Picnic is gearing up for the 2013 edition of the National Ploughing Championships.
Over 200,000 people are expected to descend on the town for the championships, which kick off tomorrow.
The event is expected to bring €36 million into the economy, some €6 million of that directly in taxes.
Superintendent Yvonne London is in charge of traffic at the event, which costs over €3.8 million to stage. She told RTÉ’s News at One that a plan was in place and that motorists should follow garda instructions.
“We have a comprehensive traffic plan in place. All of our routes are colour coded, but people shouldn’t worry too much about the colours. If they follow the signposts, they will get into the arena very quickly.
Each route goes into a dedicated car park. To ensure the smooth flow of traffic, we have closed roads, reversed the flow of traffic and imposed one-way systems we would ask drivers not to use sat-nav systems to get to the arena.
“If people have passes, we would ask that they display them clearly to facilitate easy access to the car parks.”
Thankfully for those in attendance, there is no sign of last year’s rain and wind in the forecast, with the unseasonably warm weather set to remain for the rest of the week, Met Eireann says.
The full traffic plan is available here.
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