Councillor baffled by lack of signs to county capital

Councillor baffled by lack of signs to county capital


Anton McNulty

A CASTLEBAR councillor says he is baffled that there is no road sign to the county town from Dublin and has called on the NRA to rectify the signage problem.
Fianna FΡil councillor Blackie Gavin made the comment at last week’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council where he expressed concern for the town due to the lack of signage from Dublin to Castlebar.
“The one thing that baffles me,” he said, “when you arrive in Dublin there are no signs to Castlebar. Michael Noonan said it when he was looking for Castlebar he could not find Castlebar because there was only signs for Westport. He said ‘fair play to Michael Ring he is doing his job’.
“Castlebar is the county capital, the best sporting facilities are in Castlebar, there is so much going for it. But what concerns me is there is no signs for the county capital when you land in Dublin,” said Cllr Gavin.
The issue was also raised recently in a letter to The Mayo News by Lee Walmsley of The Connacht Inn, in Castlebar, who highlighted the matter weeks before Minister Noonan made his comments in the town.

Terminal destination
According to the NRA’s traffic signs manual, when travelling on a National Primary Route it is mandatory for the terminal destination of the National Primary intersected and the terminal of the National Primary travelled to appear on Advance Direction Signs (ADS). It is also mandatory for the destinations as per ADS plus the nearest town to be on the direction sign.
The national route to Castlebar from Dublin is the N5 but because Westport is the terminal destination along this route, Westport is named on all signs for the N5 out of Dublin. According to the manual, the sign to Ballina is to be used on route confirmatory signs from Longford while the sign for Castlebar only appears when you are closer to the county town.
Cllr Gavin said he was very concerned regarding the lack of signs to Castlebar from Dublin and a number of people in the town had spoke to him regarding it.
The lack of signs welcoming people to the county was also an issue raised by the Castlebar-based councillor when discussing the Mayo Tourism Strategy.
“We should have a big sign welcoming people to Mayo. It would give the county a bit of a lift. We should work with the NRA or get a sign ourselves and put it up ourselves,” he concluded.