Cllr warns 'too late if somebody gets injured' on Cavangarden junction
Cllr Michael McMahon tables motion on South Donegal junction described as ‘dangerous’ at Donegal MD meeting
Councillors at the Donegal Municipal District supported a motion aimed at opening up discussions with transport bodies about a “dangerous junction” in South Donegal.
Councillor Michael McMahon forwarded the motion, and it was seconded by Cllr Noel Jordan, to open up discussions with the relevant bodies regarding the crossroads at Cavengardan, north of Ballyshannon, including Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
At September’s Donegal MD meeting, Cllr McMahon said: “We have talked about that for years. There has been a certain amount of work done, but I have had a lot of calls around the area with school buses.
“It is a dangerous junction. The speed of the cars going up and down the road is a concern. There is a growing population in the area.
“Is there any way we could meet up with Bus Éireann and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to see what we can do? What is being said to me is that some could be done with the left corner, where there is a lot of grass, or have a chat with the owner to see if he could give a few metres of field there.
“Could this MD have a meeting with different organisations? It is a major road. It will be too late if somebody gets injured.”
Speaking in support, Cllr Jordan stated: “Cllr McMahon is quite right.
“If the junction is wider, you could have some sort of escapeway.
“It is very important, and it is all about the safety of the road users. It is a dangerous junction and one that should be assessed again. I am glad to second that motion.”
The official Donegal County Council Executive response, signed off by the Area Manager for Roads and Transportation, Mark Sweeney, said: “The Area Roads Office has already carried out a Road Safety Assessment on this junction and has submitted this assessment to Central Technical Services for the Road Safety Engineer to review.
“If the Road Safety Engineer reviews this safety assessment and determines that safety improvement works are required, then he will then need to discuss and agree the extent of the works with TII, as the works will likely have an impact on the National Primary road.
“Note however, as funding for safety schemes is limited, priority is given to delivering safety schemes at locations where there has been a cluster of reported accidents/collisions as recorded on the Road Safety Authorities map of road collisions, and this data shows that there has been one accident/collision at this junction in the last eight years.
“We are currently waiting on the road safety engineer to finalise their review of the road safety assessment and to advise whether or not a safety scheme is going to be progressed at this location.”
Following on from the councillor's comments at the Donegal MD meeting, Sweeney added: “We have already done an assessment on that junction. We are trying to get a safety scheme at that junction.
“We would probably need a CPO (Compulsory Purchase Order) to progress the scheme, but before we decide, we need a design about what should actually happen.
“It needs a scheme. We have already done a road safety assessment.”