A 40-YEAR campaign to get a short footpath laid between two estates on a very dangerous road has ended in failure.
Residents of Grangewood and Rich Hill Woods are “devastated” by the news, warning that the continued lack of any footpath on their section of the Newport road will result in a fatality.
Local resident James Ryan has been at the forefront of the campaign by both estates for the stretch of footpath.
However, after numerous contacts with Limerick City and County Council, elected councillors, and TDs, he has been told that the work, although budgeted for, can’t go ahead.
In a letter to residents and concerned political representatives this week, Mike Richardson, Senior Executive Engineer with the Council, issued a not so welcome update.
“For this scheme to progress, a landowner agreement is required to set back the current road boundary on the outbound lane between Grangewood and Rich Hill Woods to provide sufficient space for a new footpath to be completed in this area.
“The LCCC Roads and Active Travel teams recently met the impacted landowner on site who unfortunately cannot commit to the approval of this proposed scheme at this current time.”
Mr Ryan and local residents want the Council to look at other options and, he told the Limerick Post, they are “devastated. We’ve been campaigning for this for 40 years.”
“This is an extremely dangerous stretch of road. There’s no lighting and no footpath between the two estates.
“Pedestrians, the elderly, and schoolchildren getting on and off the bus or cycling have to scramble up a very steep bank tog et out of the way of traffic.”
Mr Ryan, whose son was struck by the wing mirror of a passing car last year and suffered a broken shoulder, said that “there have been scores of near misses and accidents involving cars and pedestrians. It’s only a matter of time before someone is killed. Do we really have to wait for that to happen before something is done?”
