‘Lego-land’ traffic-calming structure slammed

‘Lego-land’ traffic-calming structure slammed


Castlebar
Edwin McGreal
edwinmcgreal@mayonews.ie

The National Roads Authority has been heavily criticised for the layout of a traffic-calming structure in Ballyvary close to the junction of the N5 main Dublin road and N58 road to Straide.
Mayo County Council has no say in the structure, as it is placed on a national road under the NRA’s control – a situation that one councillor decried.

‘Self-appointed gods’
“It seems to me they (NRA officials) spend a lot of time in Lego Land. That scheme in Ballyvary is like something you would see a five-year-old child do with lego, only the child would do it better,” said Cllr Michael Kilcoyne (Independent) at last Thursday’s Castlebar Electoral Area meeting.
“Have we any say in what the NRA do? No. They are self-appointed gods like the rest of them up in Dublin,” he added.
The issue was raised by Cllr Henry Kenny (Fine Gael), who lives within 50 metres of the junction. He said there were two ‘fairly major’ accidents at the junction in the last two weeks. Locals were concerned that one of the traffic islands could be too close to the junction, he said.

Dangerous
Cllr Al McDonnell (Fianna FΡil) agreed that many locals had concerns about the design of the new traffic-calming scheme, saying they felt that ‘rather than being a safety feature, it’s a traffic hazard’.
Cllr Frank Durcan (Independent) said that ‘everyone who uses the N5 at Ballyvary can’t understand the mentality of the people who designed’ the traffic-calming structure and suggested a roundabout be put in there.
Cllr Blackie Gavin (Fianna FΡil) said it was ‘only a matter of time’ before a serious accident occurred at the junction.
“It is hard to believe that the village of Ballyvary was bypassed a few years ago and now there is a traffic-calming structure there. What is there now is highly dangerous and it is only a matter of time before it has to be taken out again - that’s a shocking waste of public money,” he said.
Responding, Mayo County Council Senior Engineer Patsy Bourke said there were a lot of similar traffic schemes nationwide.
“They are designed to slow down traffic. Speed signs on their own are not proving effective. That’s the current view of road safety experts,” he said.
A motion was passed to have a representative from the NRA at a future meeting of Castlebar Electoral Area to discuss the Ballyvary junction.

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