Residents welcome renewed commitment to fix death trap

Date Published: {J}

Residents in the Maunsells Road area have described as “significant” a renewed commitment by Galway City Council to address a ‘death trap’ stretch of road that is putting lives of pedestrians and school children at risk.

Following recent accidents in the area – one involving a man knocked down by, and then trapped under a bus while his seven-year-old son lay nearby – a delegation from the Maunsells Residents Association met with Galway City Council representatives.

The delegation was shown plans drawn up by Council engineers to address the danger arising from the 50m stretch of Maunsells Road that leads up to the Junction with Taylor’s Hill and which has no footpath.

“Council engineers have drafted plans for a proposed realignment of Maunsells Road at the Taylor’s Hill end. At the recent meeting with a residents’ delegation, Council engineers said they were fairly confident that funding could be secured to cover the costs of the necessary works and that these works could be completed in 2012 – subject to the Council coming to an accommodation with households affected by the proposals,” said a spokesperson for the Maunsells Residents Association.

“We understand the proposed realignment requires landtakes of between 1.6m and 1.8m wide along the 50m stretch of road currently without a footpath,” the spokesperson added. “If an accommodation can be reached, Council engineers say the project will be included in the Council’s 2012 budget and the work completed next year. We saw, but were not given copies of, the proposed realignment – however, we understand copies were circulated to a number of affected households last week for consideration and we are hopeful of a positive outcome. This is an unprecedented opportunity to address a dangerous black spot before a fatal accident occurs and we thank Galway City Council for this initiative,” said the spokesperson.

“It has always been our view that it is better to act before someone is killed. Our only agenda is to secure uninterrupted footpath coverage in the area, particularly for children and older people, to help save lives. We believe we are now, at last, making progress.”

Galway City Council research shows that in excess of 6,000 cars per day travel along this road and that 50% of the cars travelling down Taylor’s Hill turn left onto Maunsells Road. This has increased further in recent months because of road works on Sean Mulvoy Road.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.