Raised pedestrian crossing to be put in place at Coosan school

Local Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said work is due to be carried out next week on installing a raised pedestrian crossing to improve safety for pupils attending Coosan National School.

'Boxer' said the work on the raised zebra crossing is expected to begin during the Halloween school break.

"This is something that's been talked about for a long time," he said. "There was a child knocked down there a year ago and it brought huge concern to the area over the fact that there was no pedestrian crossing.

"The plans are in place now for the work to start - it got the green light from the roads area of the council and TII - and the work is going to start when the schools are off next week."

The Independent TD and Minister of State said his efforts to get the pedestrian put in place began when he was a member of Westmeath County Council last year.

"I'm delighted to say that the council have now taken on board the views of the public in relation to this," he said, adding that he also had discussions with the local authority's roads engineer about potential safety improvements for pedestrians between Bloomfield Drive and Coosan church.

Another South Westmeath roads project which he said would be starting in the coming days involves the removal of three dangerous dips in the road at Moyvoughley.

"The road in Moyvougley needs huge improvement but the council doesn't have the money to do it all in one go," said 'Boxer'.

"On Sunday I met people there who are concerned about three areas where there are huge dips on the road," he said.