SHANNON councillors “got awful stick” from the public on the potential of bollards being introduced at a busy junction in the town.
Following a recent proposal from Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) to make the road junction linking Cronan, Inis Ealga and Rineanna View “safer”, senior executive engineer in the Shannon Municipal District, Tom Mellett said that bollards were set to be introduced at the location “to improve safety for cyclists. This will tighten the junction slowing vehicle movements and so improving the overall safety of all road users at this junction”.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the Shannon MD, Cllr Gerry Flynn said that since these views were published in local media, both he and Cllr McGettigan “got awful stick”. He added, “this particular junction has been a bone of contention for many years, it is one of the main arteries for Shannon, it is one of our busier roads, we’ve a lot of busy roads and we like to see them busy”.
Flynn was adamant that the junction for Cronan, Inis Ealga and Rineanna could not become “another Bóthar na Rinne”. He flagged that the junction links to two primary schools and one secondary school in Shannon.
Criticism was not just confined to the Shannon Town councillors, McGettigan revealed, “Cllr O’Gorman also got calls. People are reluctant to have bollards but they want a better safer junction”.
“A red flag went up when bollards were mentioned,” Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) outlined. “We want to make it safer, the people of Shannon don’t want bollards”.
An intention to improve road safety formed the rationale for suggesting bollards, Mellett advised. A mobility survey for Shannon Town is due to be rolled out next year which will give members of the public a chance to share their views, he added but said he would not have concerns on capacity issues.
