New Tullamore junction only second of its kind in the country
THE new modern traffic system at the junction of Ballin Ri and the Educate Together school at Collins Lane in Tullamore is now operational and caters for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
At the July meeting of Tullamore Municipal District, Senior Executive Engineer with Offaly County Council, John Connelly said Dublin City Council had assisted with the design of what is a very busy junction. A specialist contractor was hired for the signalling.
''It's probably only the second one in the country that is designed this way to get pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles all separated,'' said Mr Connelly.
The council also got cooperation from nearby landowners. ''We needed to take some land from each side. It's been in operation now for a couple of weeks and there have been no difficulties that I have heard of so far. It's a full in-house design and full credit to Michael Mullarkey, he designed all the details on this. He did fantastic work,'' commented Mr Connelly.''
Cycle lanes have yet to be connected and Mr Connelly said it ''will come into its own when that happens. ''We do have advisory lanes going into it from Collins Lane and it's been used by cyclists. It's important as well that people use it correctly. We have a video which is up on the website. We would encourage people to have a look at that. It's unusual by its nature especially for cyclists to understand and also for motorists to see exactly how the junction operates,'' he added.
Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District, Councillor Declan Harvey congratulated Mr Connelly and his team. ''It took a long time like everything with the council, but when it's done it's done well,'' said Cllr Harvey.
Councillor Sean O'Brien said he had been receiving very positive feedback.
''An awful lot of people were wondering if it was going to hold traffic up and were we going to have tailbacks but people have complimented it and find it very efficient,'' he said.
See below for details of how the junction operates.