A lot done for safety but more to do urges Limerick councillors
A LIMERICK councillor has praised safety works at a busy Limerick junction but believes more needs to be done to improve sight lines.
Calls were made at this month's municipal meeting of the Newcastle West district for “necessary safety works” to be carried out on the R520 at both sides of the Ballinakill Cross.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Michael Collins believes the junction in question poses a danger to road users.
“The R520 is a very busy road, it’s quite a fast road. Then you have a junction on that roadway which leads to a local road,” he said.
“Every time people on the local road access the regional road, they are putting their lives at risk because of the speed of the traffic and then you have the danger of cars overtaking at the junction as well so there’s a danger of their vehicles getting clipped.
“The council did a fierce job cutting back the hedges but there is a wall at both sides and it is still impeding the sight line,” he added.
According to Mr Collins what has been done is brilliant for those in higher vehicles but if you are in a low car the junction still poses a threat.
“My motion was to ask the council just to go that extra little bit to make it fully safe,” Cllr Collins said.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Francis Foley also submitted a motion at this month’s municipal meeting, calling for traffic calming measures to be put in place on St Ita’s Road in Abbeyfeale.
Cllr Foley called it a “good stretch of road” that allows people to speed up and down from the entrance to Collins’ Park at the top of the road to the graveyard at the bottom of the road.
The Fianna Fáil councillor called it a matter of importance. “I’d be worried someone would get injured or killed on that stretch of road,” he said.
The idea of installing raised pedestrian crossings on the road was floated around at the meeting. This would allow pedestrians safe access to cross the road whilst also slowing cars down before they reach the crossing.
According to John Sheehan, chief executive engineer for transport and mobility in the Newcastle West district, a “private residential development is proposed for this location and traffic calming measures make up part of this application”.