Safety measures sought for Swanlinbar road

Motorists are racing down what is known locally in Swanlinbar as the Creamery Road and then wheeling into the Furnaceland Gardens at full pelt.

That was the claim made by Cllr Sean Smith at the recent online meeting of the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District. While he pointed out that there are motorists of all ages who drive hard, he asserted: “The bigger bulk of those involved are young drivers that are causing this problem.”

Addressing the senior executive engineer for the district, Paul Mulligan, Cllr Smith asked: “I am wondering if there is something you could come up with to address this situation and give the local people who are residing there a little bit of security?”

He observed that many people walk along that road from the housing estate into the town. “They are fearful, particularly for young children, who might not be aware of the speed of these cars coming in that road.”

Cllr John Paul Feeley supported his Fianna Fáil colleague and added that, while it was a straight stretch of road with footpaths, people crossing the road are always fearful.

Supporting the motion, Cllr Peter McVitty (FG) said: “There are people who don’t think of what they are doing.

“It is a road that heads back to the Border – it is fairly open and quiet,” he said.

Replying, Mr Mulligan noted that Furnaceland Gardens is a Cavan County Council housing development. He explained that he had set up a meeting between the senior engineer in the Housing Department and the council’s Road Safety Department.

“We will meet on site and examine the issues involved,” assured the engineer, “then set about coming up with a workable solution to the problem, with a view to cutting down the speed of vehicles at that location.”

Problems in Belturbet

Cllr Fay also raised the problem of motorists speeding in Belturbet. He pointed out that one Erne Hill resident’s wall had been knocked down on several occasions.

“People are supposed to take control of the speed they drive at – some form of additional speed control measures will have to be implemented on these routes,” he asserted.

“Quite a few residents in that area are complaining about the speed of the vehicles traversing that road,” said Cllr Fay.

He added that he checked it out himself and revealed that cars and trucks come in that road “at a horrendous speed”, and even continue at high speed up Main Street.

Cllr Madeleine Argue (FG) asked people to “cop on” and slow down on approach rods to towns when they see people out walking with children.

Cllr John Feeley (FF) also supported the motion and contended that people “find it hard to slow down as they come into speed limits. We need appropriate speed limits and signage to get people to slow down.

“It does raise the question as to how appropriate our speed limits are, in terms of how far out they should be to reduce the speed limit down.”

Cllr Sean Smith said it was an important motion and the issue should be looked at as soon as possible. Patricia Walsh also supported the motion.

Replying, the Senior Executive Engineer for the MD, Paul Mulligan said he had spoken to the road safety engineers.

“There are long lists of schemes in the council offices. The Belturbet scheme and the one at the bottom of the Kilnavara Road [in Cavan Town] have now been made priority schemes, which will be looked at this year,” he said.

“We will be meeting out on site to examine what the most appropriate measures can be put in place at those locations to address the problems raised. Then they will be costed and sent to the Department for funding.”

Cllr Patricia Walsh (FF) was glad that they were prioritising the Kilnavara Road area, as speeding is a serious issue there.