Residents of Mullingar West are calling for all five-axle vehicles to be banned from using the town’s C-Link road, in order to ensure that local residents and vulnerable road users remain safe.
Mullingar West Community Council is instead suggesting that if heavy goods vehicles wish to bypass Mullingar, they are diverted past the Mullingar Park Hotel on the east side of the town, where there are no schools or housing estates.
“The C-Link road is very narrow, and has bicycle lanes, a school, and pedestrian crossings,” explained Fergal Hingerty, chairman of Mullingar West Community Council, who believes the current situation is an accident waiting to happen.
“Children use this road going to school, and we want action before there is a tragic accident. There is inadequate wooden fencing in many areas, where there are houses and areas where children play close to the fence. We would be talking a serious loss of life if someone crashed through it.”
The community council, which represents 13 residents associations in the Mullingar West area, is calling on Westmeath County Council to follow the lead of other towns and implement a ban on heavy goods vehicles through the area.
“We are putting pressure on the council to pass a bylaw to ban all five-axle vehicles from the C-Link road. This has been done in other towns. A prime example is Enfield, which has a ban on all heavy goods vehicles through the town. It makes it safer for other road users and for pedestrians,” says Mr Hingerty.
“Using the other road would mean driving an extra 1.9km, but hauliers would soon see that they would save time by using a less busy road.
“We are going to continue to be vocal on these issues in the lead up to the local elections. We know which councillors are working on behalf of Mullingar West and which ones are not, and we will be asking residents to make sure they vote for the people who are representing us.”
