Call for more traffic calming at busy Letterkenny residential areas

There have been calls for the installation of additional traffic calming measures at two residential areas in Letterkenny.

Councillor Gerry McMonagle brought motions to the January meeting of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District on the matter.

The Sinn Féin representative asked that ramps be installed on a stretch of the Glencar road between the Gaelscoil Adhamháin junction and Chestnut Grove while he has also proposed speed cushions for the entrance to the An Gleann Rua estate at Killylastin.

Donegal County Council have said that a speed survey was carried out at the location on Glencar road and the 85 percentile speed is 59km/h.

“An assessment is being carried out to establish an appropriate method of improvement works at this location,” a spokesperson said. “The roads section are attempting to identify a suitable source of funding to carry out these works.”

Councillor McMonagle said: “This is a built up area and we are looking at a reduction of speed limits in these sort of areas to 30km/h. That would mean the speed given here is almost 30km/h more than the appropriate speed limit.

“The speed is too fast and there is a stretch where driveways come right onto the road and there is no room for misjudgement. The only effective way to calm the speed is to install ramps.

“The residents are afraid than an accident will happen. There was an accident before Christmas where a car went straight into the back of another car. There will be people killed on that road; it just isn’t safe. We have to look at allocating monies for road safety as well as road improvement.”

Councillor McMonagle said that on another stretch of the road, there were 36 accidents in one year, but since the installation of speed cushions the volume of accidents have been ‘drastically cut’.

Fine Gael Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh seconded the motion and said: “People are afraid to go walking on that road. It is a busy road and there is a lot of cars speeding.”

The Council said it will carry out a safety assessment at the entrance to An Gleann Rua. If improvements are required attempts will be made to identify a suitable source of funding.

Councillor McMonagle told the meeting that this is need to regulate traffic at the busy junction with Killylastin Heights in the interest of Good Estate Management and Road Safety.

“Residents fear for the safety of the children,” Councillor McMonagle said, adding that ramps should be part of the planning process for developers. “Residents see the problems and they see what is going to happen. Someone will be knocked down here. They need a way of regulating the speed of the cars.

“There are applications for more housing in this area and car movements will increase. We need to act before it it too late.”

Fianna Fáil Councillor Donal Coyle, who tabled a similar motion, added: “I went up myself to see the traffic in Killylasin and it is obvious that calming measures have to be put in.”