Warning over traffic 'deathtrap' in Mayo town

Warning over traffic 'deathtrap' in Mayo town

Cllr John O'Hara

A North Mayo councillor has said the two main bridges across the River Moy in Ballina pose a deathtrap for users, including local schoolchildren.

Cllr John O’Hara was speaking at last week's meeting of Ballina Municipal District where he called on Mayo Co Council to put safety measures in place at the Lower Bridge, noting that pedestrians, especially students, were presuming they have a right of way but the crossings are only courtesy based.

“A lot of the schoolchildren going across the Sligo Road walk where those little lines are on the road, they don’t look left or right and think they have the right of way," noted the Fine Gael councillor. "I very nearly hit a few children driving through there myself. 

"People are driving at high speeds at that junction to get into lanes on the Sligo Road. If the sun is shining you cannot see the beacons at all and some are driving at 70kph, so we need something to slow traffic down coming into the bridges, it’s a deathtrap, there is never a dull moment there.”

Cllr O'Hara also asked the council to address "a very dangerous situation" at the junction of the Ballina to Sligo Road with Creggs Road and L-10112, stating: “When you are turning right for Sligo it is impossible to see to the right. It was my understanding that these works were to be addressed through a low-cost safety scheme. The owner of the field will donate some ground to make it safe. If this is not addressed urgently it will be the cause of a fatal accident.” 

In a written response to the issue at the Creggs Road, municipal district engineer Orla Bourke stated: “This location was previously reported to the [council's] roads department to seek funding under the [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] safety scheme programme. John Kearns [council engineer] has confirmed that they are working on determining a solution.” 

In relation to the main bridges in Ballina, Ms Bourke remarked: “I share your frustrations around the bridge and courtesy crossing. Progress on that will be through the Local Transport Plan which has identified changing the lower bridge to three-way, with an active travel cantilever bridge for that. To move forward we need funding, we got very little last year.”

  • Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.

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