Support for N60 road improvement campaign in central Mayo town
THE community in Balla are being supported in their campaign to have the same standard road on the N60 entrance from Claremorris as exists on the Castlebar side of the town.
The Ardboley and Rathduff junctions are well-known accident blackspots and a local deputation gave a presentation on what is needed to make the road safer at the monthly Castlebar Municipal District meeting.
A public consultation process is currently open on the Pollavaddy to Balla active travel scheme, but the community want to see that extended to include lighting, footpaths, filter lanes for the junctions, a reduced speed limit, and for the clutter of signage at the location to be scaled back.
They have been urged to make submissions with their views so these can be brought to the attention of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
Deputation spokesperson Gerry O'Neill told the council the route options put forward do not meet the town's needs as they don't address road safety, traffic, speed or road improvements.
Their objective is to have a safe road, which it currently is not, and Mr. O'Neill showed photos of damage following accidents.
Traffic on the route is expected to increase by 19% with the opening of the new N5 route, having already risen with the opening of the Tuam motorway. The new road from Healthlawn to Pollavaddy will see traffic approach at higher speeds, and further into the future traffic will again increase with the opening of the Claremorris to Athenry railway line and as the population of Balla grows.
Mr. O'Neill highlighted a flaw in the recording of accidents at the location - they are being reported but are not recorded on the garda Pulse system, which is information TII uses.
The concern group have over 3,000 names on a petition, he added.
The area councillors were all supportive of what the community want to achieve.
Councillor Al McDonnell said they had irrefutable evidence that the location is a death trap and it requires urgent attention.
Disappointment was expressed by Councillor Donna Sheridan that the Healthlawn project had not extended into Balla. Stopping it at Pollavaddy did not make sense.
In the short-term she asked that the signage issue be dealt with, and she asked Paul Hyland from the Roads Design Office what they need to do to make the road improvements a reality.
Councillor Ger Deere proposed a delegation meets with Minister Jack Chambers as he needs to see what the situation is.
The recent consultation event on the active travel scheme was attended by between 150 and 200 people, Paul Hyland told the meeting. The obvious thing that came out of it was that it is more than that from the public's perspective.
There is an issue to be resolved and he urged everyone to make their concerns known through the public consultation process. They will then be brought back to a steering meeting between the council and TII.
In the short-term, signage will be looked at as part of over-laying taking place later this year, and there is a speed limit review underway which will consider the submissions.