Traffic calming measures urgently required in Bettystown estate - Cllr

Traffic calming measures need to be put in place at Northlands Estate in Bettystown before someone is seriously hurt - that's according to local Cllr Sharon Tolan.

Tolan told the March Laytown/Bettystown Municipal District meeting that danger occurs mostly in the morning time when traffic is at its busiest and parents are getting children to school.

"It's horrific watching people trying to run across the road with their children in the mornings or get across the road in their wheelchairs," she said.

"I was told the pedestrian crossing would be coming and I'm wondering if we can do anything even temporarily there at the Northlands Estate on the Eastham Road?" she asked.

She later added: "The footpath doesn't extend the full way from the Triton Roundabout to the village so people are just abandoned where they don't have a footpath either side of the estate and the Eastham Road has become so busy with traffic.

"It's a symptom of the Tara Road because it's such an easier and quicker route now for all of the schools and the train station to go down the Eastham Road.

"There's lots of young families in there, there are elderly people in there. There are a number of people who are wheelchair bound in there and it's just impossible for them to get across the road, it really is very dangerous, I have been calling for this for a long, long time."

In response a council official told the meeting that the traffic section of Meath Co Council has plans to carry out a survey to assess requirements for the road.

A number of councillors also spoke of their concern of poor visibility at the Whitefield Manor roundabout in Bettystown.

"It's a highly constructed roundabout and makes it difficult for people to cross the road," said Tolan.

Meanwhile Fianna Fail Cllr Stephen McKee spoke of the need for signage and traffic calming in Donore.

"Traffic calming through Donore is a serious issue," he said. "I'd again ask for additional measures through the village. Also further signage for tourists is needed particularly ahead of the summer season with Newgrange nearby, it's a danger to all road users.”