Bailieboro junction ‘one of the worst’ in the country

The Junior Minister for Transport James Lawless has described a junction in Bailieborough town as “probably one of the worst” he has seen in the country.

He made the comment while visiting the county last Friday (September 13) with Deputy Niamh Smyth (FF) and local county councillor Niall Smith.

Cattle hauliers, tractors, work commuters, lorries and pedestrians using the busy junction last Friday evening revealed the issue to the Junior Minister.

In the space of around 20 minutes, this reporter observed one motorist mount the footpath outside the library at the top of the town while making a left turn towards Virginia; two cars nearly collided; and separately an individual proceeded to stop traffic and direct a car out of a parking space along the Main Street.

“It’s probably one of the worst junctions I’ve seen of its type in the country,” Deputy Lawless observed.

He said the juncture is “primed for a re-alignment”.

“People are coming in all different directions, we’ve seen vans pull out, we’ve seen agricultural machinery pull out.

“Just as we’re speaking two cars nearly collided,” he said.

“It’s unclear to me as someone who doesn’t know the town what the right of way is but I feel that people who do know the town don’t know either,” he said.

He said the junction “ticks the boxes” for re-engineering.

“I’ll be working with Deputy Niamh Smyth on this now trying to get this onto the project for 2025 and beyond,” Deputy Lawless commented.

He said the location of the junction at the library also highlighted the need for more pedestrian crossings.

“We don’t have any natural crossing points...

“We need to have controlled junctions, I would think a pedestrian crossing each side, maybe a bit of a raised platform and a junction re-alignment and a road layout.”

Deputy Smyth described the area as “a really important and significant motorist juncture”.

“I want people in the local area to feel safe coming into town, it’s getting to the point now where people are using the back streets to avoid this juncture.”

Minister Lawless said “the next battle” is getting resources, a design, planning approval and funding to improve the junction.

Asked for a timeline on when the project might come to fruition, Deputy Lawless said that in his two-month tenure to date, he has seen “a long, long list of projects in there already”.

“Yes it’s needed but I don’t want to make a commitment to timeline now because I’d much prefer to come back, get the figures, get the facts from the engineers.”

His aim was to return “maybe in a few months” with a plan.

“I think I’m the kind of politician that tries to tell it straight rather than making promises that I might not be able to keep,” he remarked.

“A promise I will make is to go back and tell my engineering team what I’ve seen here today,” he said, adding that he will “stress the urgency of it”.

Rail

“This is a county that is really dependent on its roads, it doesn’t have strong rail connections,” he said, adding that he is “working with” Deputy Smyth to get the Kingscourt rail line “back on track”.

“That’s a long-term project,” he said. “We’re looking at really putting the railway map of Ireland for the next fifty years, it might last for a hundred years once it’s done.

“They’re all big, long-term structure spends, it requires a commitment from government as well and it requires a commitment from whoever’s in government.

“This requires a billion of funding every year for the next 30 years, it’s a really significant programme.”

Having advocated for the railway line, Deputy Smyth said: “Meath County Council of course have gone ahead and built a greenway, which is very welcome, but ultimately what people need is good public transport.

“I really welcome the national rail plan that has been put out there and to see border counties like Cavan and Monaghan included in that.”

“They [people] should be able to get on the train in Kingscourt or wherever else this new line may pick up coming through the heart of the country.”