Active travel projects in Letterkenny get go-ahead from council

An eleventh hour attempt to stall two major active travel projects in Letterkenny was voted down in the council.

Donegal County Councillors debated giving Part 8 approval to works at Ballyraine Road and the Circular Road. The proposals will add bicycle lanes and improved pedestrian facilities to both routes while turning some roundabouts into signalised junctions.

Councillor Ciaran Brogan and his fellow members of the Fianna Fáil party in Letterkenny said that they believed the approval of the projects was premature.

Cllr Brogan’s counter motion to defer the Part 8 approvals was eventually voted down by a vote of 20 in favour of proceeding with the works and 13 against.

In proposing a deferral, Cllr Brogan commented that Letterkenny’s single biggest issue is traffic congestion and traffic management.

He said that the €4.5million investment in the projects was “throwing good money after bad”.

“If we go ahead and spend the money we are talking about here, it will make the bike shed in the Dáil look very small,” Cllr Brogan warned.

He proposed that road widening at Windyhall would be a better fix to relieve pressure on the Circular Road.

“We need to take a long look at trying to improve the traffic congestion that we have in the town,” Cllr Brogan told Monday's plenary meeting in Lifford.

“By going ahead with these projects is premature, it’s going to cause huge traffic disruption in many areas of the town.

“The bottom line is all our key junctions are at maximum capacity and traffic is causing a lot of negativity around the town. To think we are going ahead with the Circular Road, to spend €2.5million to take away a third of the carriageway for bicycle lanes, it’s mad.”

Seconding Cllr Brogan, Cllr Donal ‘Mandy’ Kelly said that he has yet to see a bicycle on the Four Lane and that the works are premature without measures such as Letterkenny having a town bus service in place.

Councillor Donal Coyle said: “What we don’t have in Letterkenny is a viable town bus, park and ride, we don’t have the facilities that will allow people to get out of their cars and travel by bus, until we do, I don’t see any point in going further with the active travel.”

Speaking in support of the Part 8 approvals, Mayor of Letterkenny-Milford MD Cllr Gerry McMonagle said it’s the lack of investment in Letterkenny that is worsening the situation.

“We have the same bloody roads that we had in a town of 5,500 as there are in a town of 20,000 plus,” he said.

“What we are trying to do is put in place an active travel programme to encourage people to leave their cars and walk or cycle safely to work or school.”

Cllr McMonagle said that the active travel plans have been three and a half years in development, and that he believed there was no point in spending more money on further consultations.

Cllr McMonagle urged members to think about the future of the town.

“Letterkenny needs this now, we can’t wait for the Bonagee link, if it ever gets built. Here we have money now and we can improve the infrastructure in Letterkenny, we can make it safer and we can allow for other modes of transport other than cars. This is what our grandchildren will be looking to see and have,” Cllr McMonagle said.

In supporting the motion, Councillor Declan Meehan said: “It’s an opportunity that we should be grabbing with both hands while there is funding.

“When we look at Letterkenny, there is an embarrassing lack of a network for cyclists, and pedestrians to an extent," he added.

Cllr Tomas Sean Devine added that the “diabolical traffic” seen in Letterkenny last Friday was an example of the need for greater infrastructure, particularly for e-scooter users.

During the debate, Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh commented: “It’s strange we are opposing an active travel plan on the basis that there is too much traffic. This is not going to solve everything in Letterkenny, but it is part of the solution.”

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Both the R940 Ballyraine Road and the L1007 Circular Road projects have now received approval to proceed with the carrying out of works.