Parents and young children ‘running the gauntlet’ on busy Letterkenny road

Parents with young children are at serious risk using a footpath on one of the busiest roads in Letterkenny, a local councillor has said.

Warning that someone is going to be killed on the road, Cllr Gerry McMonagle said the stretch of the R250 to Ballymacool Town Park is “a gauntlet that pedestrians run every day” due to the condition of the footpath, especially “mothers with buggies”.

Cllr McMonagle has called for Donegal County Council to acquire land to allow for the widening of the footpath between Ballymacool Roundabout and the Oldtown Road.
The road is used particularly by parents with young children going to and from Aura leisure centre and Ballymacoool Woods, he told the March meeting of the Letterkenny and Milford Municipal District.
The road is one of the busiest in town and is used by lorries from a local quarry, he added. The Sinn Féin councillor said “it is a miracle that none has been killed on it”.

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“We have to do something before someone is killed on that road."

The footpath is too narrow in parts and young children are at risk on it, he said.
Calling in a motion for urgent negotiations to begin with landlords in the area, he said the footpath needs to be sorted out “sooner rather than later”.
He called on the issue to be looked at by the council as a matter of urgency.
Donegal County Council said the section of road is one of the locations that has been identified for the development of an Active Travel scheme and consultants are being appointed to carry out the initial design works.