Interim measures mooted at town centre junction

A review of the junction of Castle Street and Pearse Street, Mullingar, is to be carried out ahead of an overall Mullingar Area Transport Study, members of the Municipal District Council were told this week.

The members, led by Cllr Ken Glynn and Cllr Andrew Duncan, had called for the reinstatement of a roundabout there.

Council director of services, David Jones, told the February meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad that the Area Transport Study would look at the overall traffic situation in the town, including that junction, and come up with strategies on how it can be improved.

He accepted that progress on the study was slow and that it still had to go to tender, but promised members that in the interim this junction could be reviewed.

Special expertise will be brought in to see if any interim measure can be taken to address the issues raised.

Mr Jones said that traffic volumes and trends that were affected by the pandemic will now be reverting to normal and will have to be examined.

Cllr Glynn said that he and the public wanted the issue resolved sooner rather than later.

He maintained that a roundabout was the solution, but agreed to look at alternatives.

He asked that the members be kept up to date on progress.

The mayor of Mullingar, Cllr Aoife Davitt, said members needed a timeframe for when the study would be done and said they wanted results on the ground.

Cllr Denis Leonard said that this junction, the Dublin Bridge and the Green Bridge are pressure points in Mullingar. He asked that heavy goods vehicles be directed out of the town centre to ease the pressure and that a bridge be provided at Fair Green facilitate school traffic.