Concerned resident in appeal for safety measures along busy Mayo roadway

A resident of a busy road in Mayo has published an open letter to the chief executive of Mayo County Council seeking action in addressing public safety concerns along the route.

The appeal by Cian Ginty in respect of Killala Road, Ballina, is featured on the website of IrishCycle.com

He wrote: "While residents in different parts of Ballina and Mayo might have their own complaints about the lack of crossings, Killala Road is an acute example of a lack of upgrades to keep up with the level of development.

"The urban section of the road houses more people and larger workplaces than most smaller Mayo towns.

"In population terms, if the Killala Road area were its own town, it would have a higher population than Swinford, Foxford, Kiltimagh, Charlestown, Crossmolina, Belmullet, Knock, Balla, Newport, or Killala.

"I have lived most of my life along the road, and despite much development, the public area has not changed much since I was in my late teens, around 2000. Now, my own children have to navigate it.

"One of the main changes has been painted cycle lanes, which by even standards at the time were of low quality due to their narrow width and are now hopelessly outdated compared to modern standards, especially given the volume and speed of traffic on the road.

"Councillors over the years have echoed residents and looked for pedestrian crossings (in locations such as at Costcutters, the Merry Monk and housing estates), and recently, school children, their parents and other residents protested the lack of a footpath to the new school.

"The urban section of the road is around 3km long, but only has a single crossing on it.

"The reality of the road is that the status quo pushes more people into cars, which goes against climate targets, is against health policy of getting people moving in their daily lives, causes more congestion in the town, and causes more wear and tear damage to the road which the council is unable to maintain to a high standard (before patching on one section is finished, significant deterioration is visible elsewhere).

"Over the years, the extra traffic and lack of crossings and paths have made it harder to live on or use the road without a car to get around, which pushes more people into cars, even for short trips."

Mr. Ginty said the urban section of the road just has one crossing along its 3km length and there is not a single pedestrian crossing in the 2km between Leigue Cemetery and the end linear development just beyond the new school.

"There are several clear reasons to justify installing a number of crossings, including housing on both sides, a shop on one side, a pub used by the community on the other, and educational facilities.

"While the council may claim that the population level does not justly it, the population is larger than many of the smaller towns in the county but all focused along one main road.

"The council was responsible for the granting of the development along the road and now has a responsibility to the people living and working there now and the planned growth in the area.

"There is no footpath to both the Oaklawns housing estate (built around 2005) and the new Culleens National School, which has been planned for many years (approval in 2018, Planning File Number: 17345) and constructive started in 2021.

"After the council granted the planning, I wrote in an article that included that “The council reply to the school in the planning file seems to indicate that they will be providing a footpath."

"The school opened last year, but the path still hasn’t been built, nor has any type of crossing over to the other side of the road, which has a footpath and more housing (children living on that side now have to run across), and the speed limit has inappropriately remained at 80km/h.

"So, the housing estate has been without a footpath or crossing for 20 years, and the council has known about the school being built for around a decade or more.

"As well as a much needed new footpath and cycle path on the school side of the road, because development was allowed on both side of the road, the council now has an obligation to provide lower speed limits with a crossing point with a central median, much like the village traffic calming seen across the country."

In his appeal, he concluded: "Mayo County Council needs to act within months on the lack of a footpath to the school and start to develop a plan for the wider issues on the road this year. Anything else is compounded neglect."

The full open letter by Mr. Ginty can be read here.