Dundalk Municipal District meeting hears calls for reinstatement of ramps at Lordship

Dundalk Carlingford's Cllr Andrea McKevitt told members at the Dundalk Municipal District September meeting that she was disappointed in the response from Louth County Council to her request to have the three ramps at Rampark school in Lordship fully reinstated.

Cllr McKevitt's motion at the September meeting called on Louth County Council "to have the three ramps at Rampark school on the Lordship straight fully re-instated to three continuous ramps immediately, as was the case prior to the resurfacing works taking place. This is being requested as a matter of safety for all road users."

Replying to Cllr McKevitt's motion, Acting Director of Services, Placemaking & Physical Development, Mr Willie Walsh said that: "The 'vertical deflections' are still in place at all three locations on newly resurfaced road at Lordship; at two locations there are now non-continuous ramps; the mid location has the same continuous ramp.

"In relation to the specification for the use of non-continuous ramps, the road management office (RMO) design paper states that: 'Speed cushions' are narrow versions of ramps that wider vehicles can straddle (or partially straddle), thereby reducing some of the potential drawbacks of traffic calming on Ambulances, buses and fire engines.

"These are the widest form of cushion at 1.9m wide and research has shown that the mean speed will be 16mph and the 85 percentile speed will be 20mph which is well below the 50km/h posted in Lordship. Therefore, safety is not being compromised. Bus Éireann confirmed the large number of bus passes using this road through Lordship; speed cushions are  appropriate for use on regional roads used by buses.

"Enforcement of speed limits is a matter for An Garda Síochána."

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr McKevitt said she was disappointed in the response and requested that a speed count be done in the area as there have been fatalities on that stretch of road.

Cllr John Reilly voiced his support for Cllr McKevitt's motion, saying that he assumed that what was on the road prior to the resurfacing of the road, would be reinstated after the resurfacing and that he hadn't been aware that speed cushions would be installed instead of the ramps.

He added that commercial vehicles are different widths and that it doesn't need to necessarily slow down as they approach speed cushions as they have a wider wheel base.

Cllr Antóin Watters also voiced his support for the motion and also called for a speed count to be carried out on the stretch of road.