'Novel' grass plan to slow traffic at urban Athlone junction

A grass verge is due to be installed on part of the existing road surface at the junction between St Peter and Paul's Church and the Luan Gallery in Athlone, the council has said.

The new feature is designed to serve as a traffic calming measure by narrowing the width of the junction, which is close to two pedestrian crossings.

When the plan was outlined, during last week's meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, it raised a couple of eyebrows among the elected members.

"I can only imagine the faces of the people on the west side when they come out on a Monday morning and see half an acre of grass on the road! That will be interesting," commented Cllr Aengus O'Rourke.

"This is novel. I think it will work. It's an area that has a lot of concrete, tar and pavement, so to see a little bit of green in there will be welcome."

Acting district manager Willie Ryan said the new grass verge should be in place soon, though he was uncertain whether or not it would be installed before the end of the year.

"We're hoping to get moving on it fairly quickly. There's work around the castle that may delay it... That might push it into the new year, but we should know where we are in about ten days.

"And if we do get the nod in ten days, we can move on it straight away," he said.

Mr Ryan described it as "quite a straightforward" project, saying it had been prompted by concerns about the safety of the pedestrian crossing outside the entrance to the Luan Gallery.

"Vehicles coming from Pearse Street and turning left onto Elliott Road are still making their turning manoeuvre when they arrive at the pedestrian crossing," he said, adding that this was "a danger associated with" that crossing point.

He said the grass verge would serve to "tighten up the radius at the St Peter's Church side" of the turn in the road.

Cllr O'Rourke agreed that there were concerns over the safety of the pedestrian crossing at the Luan Gallery.

"It can be particularly difficult there at night time, so it needed some action to be taken," he said.

"My proposal wasn't this - it was to move (the pedestrian crossing) further down. But I do appreciate that if it were further down people might be less inclined to walk that far down to cross."

Cllr John Dolan also described the grass verge as a "novel" proposal.

"I am going to welcome it because it's relatively low-cost and it's not permanent. So, if it doesn't work, it can be reversed. But I think it will work.

"This is one of those pedestrian crossings where I don't know how it was ever put in... it's absolutely deadly."

Council director of services Barry Kehoe added that the planned overhaul of the adjoining Market Square area, in front of St Peter and Paul's Church, was not far away.

"The Church Street (street revamp) has been done, and Mardyke Street - Sean Costello Street is on site and should be finished in April," he said.

"We have two projects at the Castle - one down by the river and one at the steps - which are at the tendering stage. The next priority, really, as far as we can see, is Market Square for public realm improvements, leading on to Pearse Street as well.

"We would hope to appoint consultants for that next year, because it is a priority and it ties together so many projects that have already begun," said Mr Kehoe.