A road junction adjacent to a primary school in Killaloe and the grounds of Smith O’Briens GAA club has been labelled “a death trap waiting to happen”.
Traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures were requested by Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) at Shantraud in Killaloe at the junction of the Crossroads and Convent Hill adjacent to the Boys National School and the grounds of Smith O’Briens GAA club.
Reference to the upcoming Killaloe/Ballina mobility assessment plan was made by senior executive engineer, Niamh Madden in response to the proposal. “This plan will identify any deficiencies in public infrastructure and make recommendations in relation to same. Traffic surveys have recently been carried out at this location as part of the preparatory work for this plan. Notwithstanding this, the Killaloe Municipal District will carry out speed surveys and examine this location. We will analyse these results and evaluate if traffic calming measures and or other measures are required,” she stated.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Killaloe MD, Cllr O’Brien said that the junction was “a death trap waiting to happen, it is a very busy junction”. He added, “We had a plan to do something and continue the footpath around the corner which was deemed adequate, we now have a situation where you could be walking in the dark of night but nothing is done”.
When it comes to the Killaloe/Ballina mobility plan, he felt “there needs to be more meat on the bone in what we’re getting”.
Support for the installation of the traffic calming measures came from Cllr Joe Cooney (FG), “I can see exactly where Cllr O’Brien is coming from because I’ve used the junction a good bit in the past. I think something could be done”.
