Urgent action needed at Laois junction

Urgent safety works have been requested at a “dangerous junction” where a number of people have died in Laois. 

The work was requested by Fine Gael Cllr PJ Kelly, who said people in the area frequently have crashed cars landing in their gardens. 

He asked in a motion “that Laois County Council investigate the possibility of installing safety measures at Jamestown Cross as another car accident there recently emphasised the fact that it is a dangerous junction.”

In a written response, Senior Executive Engineer James Dowling said “Laois County Council’s Road Design Department will meet Councillor Kelly on site to discuss potential safety improvements to Jamestown Cross.”

Cllr Kelly explained that the Jamestown Junction was on the old main Dublin Cork road. 

“It is a seriously dangerous stretch of road. There is a 100 km speed limit and it goes back up to Killinure Cross which is the main thoroughfare coming out of Portarlington heading up towards Dublin,” he said. 

Despite a stop sign at the junction on the road, traffic just drives out and moves into a merging lane which shouldn’t be in place at the location, according to Cllr Kelly. 

“A few people have been killed on this junction in the past few years,” he stated. 

Cllr Kelly claimed the road is getting busier and the traffic is going faster on it. He said the stretch of road between the two junctions is about a mile and a half. He said people living along the road frequently have cars in their lawns following collisions. 

Sinn Fein Cllr Aidan Mullins seconded the motion. 

“It is a dangerous junction and it urgently needs attention,” he said. 

The issue was raised at the latest meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District.