Five Westmeath villages lined up for traffic-calming measures

A senior executive of Westmeath County Council has admitted it is “more than likely” that traffic calming measures will not be carried out by the end of the year in five local villages which have been earmarked for a series of works.

Damien Grennan, senior engineer with the council, told the July meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District that it was hoped to get the five villages “shelf ready” so that works could proceed whenever funding becomes available.

The five villages selected by the council for traffic calming measures are Castledaly; Moyvore; Dysart; Loughnavalley and Tyrrellspass.

Mr Grennan made his remarks during a powerpoint presentation to the meeting on the council's 'Traffic Calming Policy for Towns and Villages', which was adopted by a full meeting of Westmeath County Council in September 2023.

The top priority of the policy - which relates to towns and villages outside main urban centres - is to improve road safety in towns and villages across Westmeath. Among its other aims are to improve accessibility for public transport, cyclists and pedestrians; reduce noise pollution and disturbance and also to reduce “community severance”.

The meeting heard that, as part of the selection process for the five villages scheduled for works, the council looked at issues such as recorded accident history; the concentration of vulnerable road users; the percentage of HGVs; traffic volumes; the degree of difficulty crossing the road and “key attractors” such as creche, school, church, tourist and amenity areas and recreational areas in each village.

Damien Grennan said the council would be looking at a “wide range” of traffic-calming measures, and added that the obvious one is the introduction of special speed limits. However, the presentation put before the meeting also indicated other measures such as the introduction of slow zones in housing estates, the re-allocation of existing road space to provide for segregated options for cyclists and other vulnerable road users, a reduction in road width and 'through-road' closures or the implementation of one way streets in certain areas.

Other measures that could be considered include staggered parking; speed ramps, tables and cushions; overruns or rumble strips; improved street lighting, signage, lines and markings and a programme of landscaping.

Mr Grennan stressed that the council's policy for rural towns and villages across Westmeath applies only to regional and local roads, and pointed out that the main urban centres of Athlone and Mullingar fall outside the remit of the scheme and are subject to separate examination.

He also told the meeting that traffic calming measures in towns and villages located on the national road network are subject to separate Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) protocols and procedures.

The cathaoirleach of the local municipal district, Cllr Vinny McCormack, welcomed the presentation from the council's engineering department and said it was “a long time coming” in terms of the many people who have raised issues about speeding in rural villages. “I'm glad to see Moyvore near the top of the list of villages to be prioritised for works,” he remarked.

The presentation was welcomed by a number of councillors.

Kilbeggan-based Fianna Fail councillor Liam McDaniel said that the traffic-calming work carried out at the site of the new secondary school in Kilbeggan is “a perfect example of what we are trying to do here”.

Cllr McDaniel also appealed for traffic-calming measures to be introduced in Horseleap, but Damien Grennan said any works there would have to be carried out in consultation with Offaly County Council.

The presentation was described by Cllr John Gibbons as “a good, clear and comprehensive” overview of what needs to be done to slow down traffic, but he also took the opportunity to raise the issue of speeding on the Garnafaile road and said it has been made “even more dangerous” as a result of recent works because cars are now “travelling faster” on the route.

“Local people stay off this road from 7am to 9am as cars are just ripping through,” he said.

Responding to the issues raised, Damien Grennan said consultation is “a big element” of the process to make roads across Westmeath safer.

While he said the council would like to get to “all the villages” that need works carried out to slow down traffic, “we have to start somewhere”.