Fears of school traffic mayhem on Borris Road
FEARS that inadequate road infrastructure would lead to traffic mayhem at the two new schools on the Borris Road, were expressed at Portlaoise Town Council's monthly meeting last week.
"It's pretty much putting the cart before the horse," exclaimed Cllr Rotimi Adebari. He and his colleagues expressed the concern that the two secondary schools currently under construction at Borris Road, and due to open next September, would be operational before a proper road structure was constructed to serve them.
Declared Mayor Kathleen O'Brien: "I feel the schools should not open unless all this (infrastructure) is in place. Otherwise, we are going to have a fatality. We are going to have congestion every single morning. It's absolutely crazy. Better to leave the schools there and wait until 2011, until the infrastructure is in place."
Cllr Willie Aird: "The fact of the matter is that nothing is going to be done out there." Adopted unanimously was his proposal that members should meet County Council senior engineers and managers in an effort to expedite the provision of the necessary infrastructure. Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald believed the school Principals should also attend those discussions.
Deputy County Manager, Gerry Gibson promised to organise the meeting. And, he explained, the County Council was currently doing works on Borris Road. These, he stated, were to facilitate the new schools and would be finished in May.
Earlier, Cllr Alan Hand had asked when would work start on erecting roundabouts at the Dublin Road/Colliers' Lane junction and the Block Road/Dublin Road junction.
Town Clerk John Clarke said land for the Colliers' Lane/Dublin Road roundabout would be acquired under a compulsorily purchase order (CPO). It would be built in 2011. Interim traffic measures would be put in for the opening of the new secondary schools. No funds were available for the Block Road roundabout, he added.
Cllr Hand: "When the two schools are completed traffic is going to increase probably tenfold. We should monitor the traffic when the schools open in September."
Cllr Brian Stanley: "We need to put a temporary roundabout at the Colliers' Lane/Dublin Road junction. Without doubt, there's going to be huge volume of traffic there. With CPOs, we could be talking about two, three or four years. There will be cars backed up as far as Hawthorn Drive."
Cllr Jerry Lodge: "Colliers' Lane is of immediate importance to the people of Portlaoise. There will be no excuse if we don't have that right by September. We have known about the schools for some time. We should ask Minister Dempsey for additional money."
Cllr Aird: "We still have not completed the footpaths on Borris Road and we putting 1,200 or 1,400 kids out there. How can we allow kids out there on bikes? We need to have a long, good look at ourselves."
Cllr Adebari said coming out on to the Dublin Road from Colliers' Lane was "mayhem."
Cllr Fitzgerald: "We went on for years and years blaming the Dept of Education. We now have new schools but unfortunately the roads are our baby. Temporary infrastructure will have to be put in place or else there will be bedlam out there."
She added: "I would not agree with not opening the schools. The people of Portlaoise have been waiting years for the schools. I do feel we have let the schools down."
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Weather for Portlaoise
Friday 18 May 2012
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Light rain
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