'People fearful of leaving their front gate' on dangerous Portlaoise road

Portlaoise residents living off an ancient narrow raised road that sees a lot of speeding traffic are "fearful leaving their front gate".

A Laois county councillor has called on Laois County Council to install paint markings and signage on the Ridge Road, built on an high iceage esker ridge that runs through Portlaoise.

Cllr Tommy Mulligan described the fearful traffic.

"This stretch has experienced a huge volume of traffic with people taking a shortcut, it joins to Crookedy. There is a lot of speed, a lot of families, residents young and old. People are fearful of leaving their front gate.

"If traffic is coming from Crookedy, it's very difficult to see. Cars are speeding from Mountmellick and Portlaoise. It's only a matter of time before there is a major incident," he warned.

He tabled a motion to the September meeting of Portlaoise Municipal District.

The Ridge Road, Portlaoise.

Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley seconded the motion.

"This is ongoing a long time, we raised the issue of the junction. A lot of it is driver behaviour, a lot is the winding twisting road. People use it for a short cut especially at busy times in Portlaoise when it's bumper to bumper. I would also like to acknowledge the work that Laois County Council are doing on drainage in Ballytegan," she said.

Cllr Marie Tuohy agrees.

"It's really a country raod, a lot of people don't exercise caution. I can testify to the speed. I lost a wing mirror on it," she said.

Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald noted that there were plans 20 years ago to build a northern relief road around Portlaoise.

"Back then we hadn't half the traffic or population. Now it's crazy traffic there, and we have made no improvement. We're still left with a narrow country road and all the traffic on it," she said.

Cllr Mulligan had another motion at the same meeting around the same area, this time asking for a yellow box. 

In reply to the motion, the district engineer agreed to meet Cllr Mulligan on site to examine “priority areas on the L2120 Ridge Road” for extra road markings and signs.