A one-way system for Athlone is once again firmly back on the agenda, amid calls by councillors for something to be done about the condition and appearance of Church Street.
“Horrible” and “miserable” were two adjectives used to describe the town’s main thoroughfare at Tuesday’s budget meeting of Athlone Town Council.
The controversial one-way system, which was introduced for a trial period in 2008, became a hot topic of discussion once more this week as councillors considered some of the features of the budget for the coming year. These include the fact that the construction of the Railway Field Road and the Athlone Main Drainage project are on the long finger, while improvements to Church Street will not be possible until after the watermains rehabilitation later this year.
In addition, no money has been set aside for a streetscape regeneration for the east side of the town for this year.
“We had it nearly right,” lamented Cllr Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran of the demise of the one-way system.
“Are we going to leave Church Street the way it is? The streets will fall asunder; the paths need to be done. We need to come up with some plan for Church Street. The centre of Athlone is horrible, it’s miserable,” he said.
Cllr Kieran Molloy said the council couldn’t wait until the Athlone Main Drainage works are carried out or the one-way system implemented to resurface and improve Church Street.
“There are more potholes all the way along, and the temporary jobs being done are going to turn into a big job,” he said.
However Cllr Gabrielle McFadden, a vehement opponent of the one-way system, pointed out that “there is more to the town than Church Street”.
“I am worried about Church Street, but Irishtown is being left derelict - there is nothing to say what is being done for Irishtown or Connaught Street. The one-way system is not going to work,” she added.
Her Fine Gael colleague Cllr Mark Cooney said if the one-way system had been left another while it may have worked - “though I’m not sure if it will work without the Railway Field Road,” he qualified.
“The debate should be open. We’re aware of where the problems were, and it was starting to work. There is no doubt that Church Street would be a much better place for pedestrians and shopping with the one-way system.”
County manager Dan McLoughlin encouraged councillors to reopen the debate on the one-way system. He felt the initial introduction of the system in 2008 had “fallen foul of the economic environment rather than traffic management”.
“The rationale is to make Church Street more enjoyable as a shopping street, to improve the relationship between pedestrians and cars. The people of Church Street engaged with the one-way system but somehow fell out with it, but I don’t think people have closed the door on it.
“We are parking the Railway Field road for the moment, but should revisit the one-way system to see what people think. We can’t enhance the experience of Church Street without it - the footpaths are too narrow. In the interim we can upgrade and replace paths - it will look better but it won’t be a better shopping environment.”
He added that councillors shouldn’t let the delay with the construction of the Railway Field road to put a halt to discussions on the one-way system, or on whether Church Street is in need of enhancement.
As the discussion drew to a close, town clerk Hugh O’Reilly mischievously remarked that the one-way system will be getting another trial of sorts in the near future.
“We will have a one-way system in place on Church Street for the mains rehabilitation scheme - so a trial period will be built
