'Dangerous road with poor sight lines' taken in charge by Longford County Council

A road in Ballymahon described as being 'dangerous' is being taken in charge by Longford County Council after two councillors raised concerns in recent months about it.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Pat O'Toole had called on the local authority to take in charge the lane beside Bridgeways Family Resource Centre that leads to Ballymahon Soccer pitch and the local vets practice.

Cllr O'Toole described it as a 'dangerous narrow lane with an awful lot of traffic' and he stressed it was urgent it was addressed. Fine Gael Cllr Paul Ross, in his motion, outlined the road was very narrow with 'poor sight lines' onto the main street.

At the recent December meeting of Ballymahon MD, Senior Executive Engineer Brian McNeela updated councillors and said they had started the process of taking the road in charge.

"It was advertised in August this year and there was no submissions received so I'd recommend it's taken in charge and once it's taken in charge we can explore different funding options in relation to developing the road and the services."

Cllr O'Toole said he was very pleased to hear about the progress that had been made and he commended the local authority staff.
Cllr Ross said he was 'delighted' and it had 'happened in quick time'.

"It's very rare that I've ever seen a road taken in charge, especially not in the time period since the motion went in just before the summer.

"There has been a lot of traffic on the road, a lot of pedestrians on that section of road and schools as well with very narrow access.

"As Cllr O'Toole has outlined previous plans for ‘Pobal le Chéile,’ I assume we have to go into new agreements as to what the next steps are for that road because we can feel, Pat probably agrees with this, that it needs to be widened and footpaths put in as well.

"There also needs to be as much done as possible to improve sight lines and make safer access for a busy thoroughfare."

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