Foxford pedestrian crossing works get 'cautious' welcome

A local councillor has ‘cautiously welcomed’ progress on the long-awaited Foxford pedestrian crossing works.

A Section 38 notice for a proposed traffic calming scheme in Foxford was published last week with a public submissions portal going live last Thursday.

The proposal includes upgrade and refurbishment works to the existing pedestrian crossing in the town centre. A key element of the proposal is the removal of the existing right turn movement from the N58 Main Street onto the N26 Chapel Road.

There has been a concerted campaign to have works undertaken on the crossing due to the number or near-misses involving pedestrians in recent years.

Fine Gael Cllr Neil Cruise told last week’s meeting of the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District that the progress is welcome because incidents were occurring weekly. However, he was “cautiously welcoming” the Section 38 notice because of a lack of local input into the plan thus far.

“I have not seen the plan, which I’m not happy about as a local representative. There were yellow jackets down there but local knowledge is king,” he said.

“I really hope what is contained in the plan is of benefit. This is a long-running saga and hopefully we can have boots on the ground by the end of the year.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.