LIMERICK City and County Council has been urged to install pedestrian crossings on Childers Road at the Parkway Roundabout as a matter of urgency.
Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely also called on the local authority to prioritise pedestrian crossings at the Ballysimon Roundabout and at Ballysimon Road.
Speaking at the recent Metropolitan District meeting, Cllr Kiely hinted to feelings of déjà vu as these works, she said, were previously asked for during the last term of the Council.
“If you’re on the Parkway Roundabout, it’s dangerous for pedestrians to try and cross as you have to cross two lanes and then go to the small centre island and cross two lanes again. You then have to cross the little slip road where people speed up and try and merge into traffic,” the City East representative claimed.
“I raised this with our engineers, who snuck out the door there a few minutes ago, and I’ve raised it with Active Travel. It’s been pushed around like the child that nobody wants, because no one wants to address it.”
Cllr Kiely added that, on the Ballysimon Roundabout “you’re crossing two lanes of traffic”.
“When you come off the roundabout, people are trying to go to work, and the new school, and it is very hostile for pedestrians and very dangerous.”
The Fine Gael councillor called on the Council to look at pedestrian crossings from a planning point of view and for infrastructure to be put in place.
“Anyone with any kind of heart can see that we’ve landed women and children in the middle of one of the most dangerous, precarious roads, where they have no infrastructure around them. This kind of stuff has to stop. We’re totally ignoring pedestrian safety,” she declared.
Senior Engineer for the Council’s Transport and Mobility Directorate, Hugh McGrath, told Council members that the Parkway Roundabout junction will be considered for an overall upgrade as a result of BusConnects. These improvements, he said, will include consideration for all transport modes.
Mr McGrath also revealed that pedestrian improvements are planned as part of works proposed at Ballysimon Road and the Tipperary Roundabout under the Active Travel schemes currently being processed.
