Traffic calming measures "essential" for Castledaly village
The installation of speed ramps and pedestrian crossings are "essential" to slow down motorists speeding through Castledaly, a Fine Gael councillor has said.
Cllr John Dolan called for the implementation of traffic calming measures in the South Westmeath village at the monthly meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District last week.
Outlining his concerns, the councillor said there were "major speeding issues" in the village.
"There is a straight stretch of road through the village going past the GAA pitch where there are always young people going to and from for activities," Cllr Dolan said.
"Motorists are building up speed as they pass through the village and it is only a matter of time before we see an extremely serious incident on that road."
He said it was now imperative that speed ramps and pedestrian crossings were installed in the village as traffic-calming measures.
"We should consider ramps, as they seem to be the only solution. The data is available to support what we are looking to do, so hopefully we are in a position to act on this as soon as possible."
Supporting Cllr Dolan's motion, Cllr Vinny McCormack, said that the straight road through Castledaly "lends itself towards speed".
"There is no traffic calming measure on approach to Castledaly enticing motorists to slow down to 50km/h. We need to be active on this and find a solution before there's an accident," Cllr McCormack said.
In response, District Engineer, Willie Ryan, said that Castledaly was one of five villages in the county "emerging as a priority location for the introduction of traffic calming measures" in the District.
"Based on a number of factors, these five villages have been prioritised for traffic calming measures by our transportation department. Designs for Castledaly will be developed using a 'whole of village' approach with a whole suite of measures being considered at the moment," Mr Ryan said.
He added that details on the timeframe for delivery of the traffic calming measures would be available "in due course".