'I don't know if courtesy crossing are worth the tar they are written on' - Flynn

"I don't know if courtesy crossings are worth the tar they are written on," said Cllr Cormac Flynn said at a recent Carrick-on-Shannon meeting where he asked if the crossing could be changed to pedestrian crossings.

Cllr Flynn had asked for the support of the other members in asking Leitrim County Council to conduct a traffic management review in the area of Priest's Lane, Leitrim Rd and Upper Main Street. 

He said that "while recent works in the area, for the most part, been very beneficial, there are areas such as turning circles, poles/bollards, courtesy crossings, bus lay-bys, signage etc. which should have been reviewed to see if further improvements can be made."

Regarding the courtesy crossings, Cllr Flynn asked if they could changed into pedestrian and moved up the road away from the corner stating "it's difficult enough looking for a gap in the traffic, then you are looking you are looking for a gap in traffic and then having a person walk straight out in front of you. You are looking left and looking at cars and someone comes from your right and is basically at your front grill; I think they are causing a danger as opposed to helping the situation and I'm wondering if we look at moving permanent pedestrian crossings back up and away from the junction itself and make everything safer for road users."

District engineer Emma Donohoe said that the public realm were "very new and went through a design process, a part 8 process and I don't for see funding being made available to make alterations to a very, very fresh scheme that went through the proper processes."

Cllr Flynn said this was "disappointing" stating that he felt a pedestrian crossing is "overly expensive". 

He noted also that he was aware that buses are "pulling in at Murtagh's but they can't pull in fully and they are still blocking the road and causing big enough delays" and asked if "one or two of those bollards can be moved to let more than one bus pull in at a time pull in at Murtagh's."

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He also said that the bollard at "the social welfare office; it's getting hit nearly hourly. Is there any need for it? Could it be removed or replace by a plastic flexible one?"

Ms Donohoe said that she "would prefer a bollard to be hit than a pedestrian so I don't think that removing it is the answer. If people are hitting it, they are mounting the curb. Maybe a plastic one could be installed."

She added that the bollards at Murtaghs are there to "protect vulnerable road users to it wouldn't be envisaged that we would be removing any of those bollards."

Cllr Enda Stenson said he agreed with the council's stance. 

Ms Donohoe said the junction was "auto-tracked so there is a sufficient turning arc there for vehicles" however Cllr Flynn responded that "you have to have nothing coming down the road in order to turn; the right-hand lane needs to be clear and it is difficult."

The official response had stated that the traffic layout in the areas mentioned were altered back in 2019 on a trial basis and the feedback from the public and businesses was gathered on the two week trial. The response continued that the executive decided to proceed with the revised layout following the review and the feedback from the public. 

There is a narrow point in relation to the layout - Leitrim Rd/Main Street Junction - turning movement towards Dublin. It is not possible to alter the curb radius on the junction here due to the limited road space available. Any and all revisions made to the road layouts that formed part of the public realm works prioritises pedestrians and vulnerable users and the final design give more space back to these road users. 

All road improvement works that formed part of the recent public realm scheme in Carrick-on-Shannon were designed and constructed to the latest road design standards including the location of signs, junctions where auto tracked to ensure turning movements for larger vehicles was achievable. 

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Cllr Paddy Farrell supported the motion saying there are "problems spots; at the social welfare office, if you come out with a long enough vehicle, you have to go out into the traffic. Up at the corner, it is very tight there too so they do need to be looked at."

Cllr Irene Guckian-Rabbitte also said she supported the motion.