Overgrown junction poses danger for motorists

The first thing visitors to Ballinasloe encounter when they leave the motorway is an obscured roundabout in need of urgent attention.

That was the message at last week’s meeting of the local Municipal District meeting, as an engineer with Galway County Council outlined plans to enhance two other roundabouts in the town.

Now, the local authority have been asked to clean up Beagh Roundabout on the outskirts of the town which has become overgrown and looks very dilapidated.

The call came from Cllr. Aidan Donohue who accepted that the roundabout was located in an area which was governed by Roscommon County Council but believed that there should be some consultation between both authorities.

“When a visitor leaves the motorway, the first thing they witness is this roundabout which is very unsightly. It paints a very bad image even before anyone gets to the town.

“It provides many motorists of their first impression of the town and to be quite honest it is not a very good one,” he said. The roundabout is located out the old Shannonbridge Road.

The Fianna Fail councillor said that it gave a very bad look to the town and asked officials to liaise with Roscommon County Council in an effort to have it cleaned up and enhanced.

Members were earlier told that funding had been provided for the other approach roundabouts to the town and tenders had been sought.

More than €100,000 will be invested in the Mackney Roundabout at Brackernagh, which is also adjacent to the motorway, and the Suckfield Roundabout.

A successful tender for these roundabouts had been approved that they would be low maintenance into the future.

Roscommon County Council has provided €20,000 towards the enhancement projects, as the Suckfield Roundabout was located in their area. The remainder would come from a commitment made by Ballinasloe Town Council to provide the money prior to its disillusion prior to last year’s local elections.

However, Cllr. Donohue now wants Galway County Council to liaise with their colleagues in neighbouring Roscommon to do something with the Beagh Roundabout which he believes would not involve a major cost