Road closed on N81, Blessington to Baltinglass Road, close to Hollywood Cross, following "head on collision".

Wicklow Alerts have posted notice of a road closure along the N81, Blessington to Baltinglass Road, close to Hollywood Cross.

The post read: "BAD ROAD ACCIDENT ON N81 - ROAD CLOSED

Report of a very bad road crash on N81 near Hollywood; head on collision with vehicles on fire.

Road is currently blocked and has been closed by Gardaí. Diversions in place".

Gardaí confirmed a collision has occurred and that the road is currently closed. Details are not known as to how many vehicles were involved or whether or not serious injuries have occurred.

Roadworks have been carried out over the past week along the stretch of road preceding tonight's accident area (above).

Last week, Minister for Transport, Shane Ross TD visited Blessington regarding the Dept of Transport and the TII's decision to defer the upgrade of the N81.

Despite 10 years of prep work and the preferred route selected, the TII confirmed plans to upgrade the route were effectively on the long finger and would be deferred until 2027, when it was likely the whole consultation process would begin again.

Whilst the Minisiter stated the N81 was not a high priority and did not have an above average collision rate, the N81 Action Group dispute this, with the TII's own report citing certain stretches of the road having a higher than average statistic for head on collisions.

During the past week, the N81 Action Group erected crosses along the route to symbolise the 80 deaths which have occurred on the route (see feature photo).