Castlebar Town Council must act immediately to ease the traffic gridlock in the town, according to Labour PRO Harry Barrett. “As Christmas approaches, we will see the town come to a standstill and emergency services put at risk if action is not taken,” he added.
The traffic situation in Castlebar last Friday evening was described as a disgrace by the Labour hopeful. Residents of Marion Crescent, St Bridgid's Crescent and indeed large areas of the Rathbawn Road were hemmed in for over an hour as the traffic came to a standstill. If emergency services had had to call on any of these areas of the town they could have been in difficulty.
“The closure of Shambles Street and the diversion put in place is putting huge pressure on the town's traffic flow and nothing is being done about it. It will get even worse if effective measures are not put forward by the town council,” said Mr Barrett, who called again for Chapel Street to be opened to two-way traffic to allow residents in the Rathbawn area to access the ring road.
“It would also allow residents from the Pontoon Road area to access the ring road and Westport without having to go through town. I also want to see the lights at the bottom of Linenhall Street switched off. This measure has improved traffic flow every year when carried out. In the long term, the widening of Newline must be made a priority as well as the provision of the planned relief road between St Gerald's College and Aldi.
“Having the all the town's traffic filter through Main Street is not an option any more. The town manager, and indeed our councillors, must now act to tackle this chaos or we could see some very unfortunate consequences if left go on the way it is at present,” concluded Barrett.
