Road safety improvements throughout Ashbourne area

Labour councillor in the Ashbourne area, Niamh McGowan, has welcomed a number of road safety improvements in the locality. Following representations by local residents' groups about the hazards caused by high ramps at the entrance to Tudor Grove in Ashbourne, the ramps have now been replaced with ramps conforming to the recommended standard. After being contacted by residents, Cllr McGowan arranged for the council to assess them and it emerged that all of the ramps on Racehill Road (through Tudor Grove) were beyond recommended height and were a potential hazard. "I was pleased that the work was started and finished very quickly to tie in with mid-term break for St Mary's NS, which is located just off Tudor Grove," said Cllr McGowan. "And while there were some nervous moments when some residents thought that the new ramps might not be high enough to discourage speeding traffic, it was very satisfying to see that, once the works were completed, there was no doubt about their effectiveness," she said. Cllr McGowan applauded the commitment made by Meath County Council to repair the roundabouts at the junction of the M2 and the N2 at Rath and Ninemilestone. A number of accidents caused damage to the brick structure of both roundabouts and their condition deteriorated with the passage of time. Following a safety exercise to minimise hazards associated with working at roundabouts, Meath County Council has completed the restoration of the Ninemilestone roundabout and has confirmed that the work to restore and repair the Rath roundabout will commence shortly. She has also welcomed recent long-awaited improvements to disability access in Ashbourne, but warns the council that there is still much to do. Tactile paving has been installed and kerbs have been lowered at a number of entry points to the Millennium Park and on footpaths at the Broadmeadow retail units opposite Tesco so that wheelchair-users and blind people can now have easier access to them. "Although this is a welcome first step, there is a long way to go," Cllr McGowan said. "Work on access to the Catholic Church on the main street is long overdue, we need the tactile paving at Huntsgrove aligned with the path up to the town centre, we need improved street lighting in many of Ashbourne's older estates and wheelchair-users still have difficult accessing certain areas of our town." While acknowledging that the new town centre is fairly user-friendly for disabled people, Cllr McGowan remarked: "Links to the new town centre have remained difficult. Too many sections of retail and restaurant units in Ashbourne have been inaccessible until now. I welcome the work done to date and I hope that it improves some aspects of the quality of life members of our community who have to labour with disabilities."