Frustration at delay with Foxford pedestrian crossing

A Foxford councillor has become frustrated with the length of time it is taking to complete an options and feasibility study to carry out safety works at a pedestrian crossing in the town.

Fine Gael councillor Neil Cruise has raised the issue on numerous occasions and he launched a petition on behalf of the Foxford Enhancement Group in October 2022 for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to carry out urgent safety works at the pedestrian crossing of the N26, in Foxford town centre. The petition was signed by over 2,000 people.

Cllr Cruise requested an update on the project from senior engineer Conrad Harley at last week’s Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District. Mr Harley informed Cllr Cruise that his department had to step in to conduct the study as an engineer in the roads design office, who was tasked with the job, is currently out sick. He hopes that it will be completed before the end of the year.

Cllr Cruise expressed his frustration at this news, saying that the people of Foxford are becoming “annoyed” and “frustrated” with the situation.

“There’s been a problem with this since 2015. There’s been a problem since it went in. There was a petition handed in to TII at our Roads SPC last year. Where will the buck stop with this? When will something be done?” Cllr Cruise asked. “The simple thing people are asking for is traffic lights and a pedestrian crossing. It’s acutely annoying at this stage.” 

Head of roads Paul Dolan said that everybody has a responsibility when they come to a pedestrian crossing with regards to safety and that the pedestrian crossing in Foxford is working.

“It’s signed, it’s working and there isn’t an accident cluster at it. You brought it up with TII out of the blue last year and it wasn’t on the agenda and it wasn’t a scheme. It is a scheme now. There’s a lot of other locations out there that are trying to get on the list but there is a finite amount of resources,” Mr Dolan said. “That staff member, who was out since last February, will be back this week. It wasn’t originally on TII’s list, but it is now.”