Roundabout markings in Castlebar have caused much debate and at times incidents of road rage since Mayo County Council embarked on an experiment to ease traffic congestion in the town.
Months later a member of the Castlebar electoral area has admitted that the experiment has on the one hand worked well - mainly at the Cathal Duffy and Westport Road roundabouts and to a lesser extent the Mulroy’s roundabout — but he has suggested a further marking change at the Cathal Duffy roundabout.
Councillor Paddy McGuinness said the markings caused a big furore when they were first brought in but he added it was now time to review the situation.
He said the markings at the Mulroy’s roundabout are causing confusion and improvements could also be made at Cathal Duffy’s roundabout.
His proposal would involve directing traffic in the left-hand lane, approaching the Cathal Duffy roundabout from the Westport Road, to take the first exit or continue straight on towards the Mulroy’s roundabout, while traffic using the right-hand lane would only turn up Station Road. This is because he has noticed that considerably less traffic turn left at this exit for the town centre while the right-hand lane is congested with traffic making their way towards the N5 or up Station Road.
A senior executive officer with Mayo County Council agreed with Cllr McGuinness’s assessment of the situation but Padraic Flanagan added that it would mean two cars would travel around the roundabout at the same time and engineer Anne Sweeney would have to examine the proposal.
