Publication of Mayo town's traffic review is now urgently sought

THE cathaoirleach of Ballina Municipal District, Councillor Seamus Weir, wants to see the results a long-awaited review of traffic in the town.

Councillor Weir said he had previously requested a traffic review and, at various times, so had his colleagues, and yet the council is coming to the end of its term and still they haven't seen it.

“We need to see it, see where the problems are and how we can solve them,” he said.

Councillor Weir made his comments after Councillor Mark Duffy raised the issue of the traffic lights at the Bunree Road, which have been out of order regularly in the past few months – an embarrassing situation.

Ironically, the flow of traffic seemed to be better with the traffic lights not working, Councillor Duffy noted.

He added that maybe it was time to do 'something creative' with regard to the traffic lights in town, and he suggested the council should encourage people to have their say on the Local Transport Plan that is currently on display (in Ballina Civic Offices, Ballina Library and Áras an Chontae, Castlebar; submissions/observations are welcome).

Councillor Weir noted that there are only three sets of traffic lights in the town, but all of them are problematic.

He suggested it may be operated in a deliberate way to hold traffic back coming into town from the Foxford and Sligo directions, thereby keeping the flow in the town centre moving.