Johnstown Education campus will be next to see Safe Routes to School Scheme works

Work on the Safe Routes to School scheme for the education campus at Johnstown, Navan will take place this year with "the bulk of the work" being carried out over the summer months when the schools are closed.

At a meeting of Navan Municipal Council last week, engineer, Paul McKeon said that 1,600 pupils on the Johnstown campus, which includes St Stephen’s National School, Colaiste na Mi and St Mary's Special school would benefit from the €500,000 scheme which is aimed at providing safe cycling and walking infrastructure to schools.

Mr McKeon said Jacobs Consultants had been appointed as consultants to assist with the delivery of the works.

"Funding from the National transport Authority has been confirmed and the bulk of the work will take place during the summer months when the schools are closed.

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"The works include improvement at the roundabout outside school, a new footpath across the green and a new gate and pedestrian access to the school."

Cllr Alan Lawes said that one of the local residents had suggested a few amendments to the plan - "Are these amendments being taken seriously are there any changes to the plan because of submissions?"

Mr McKeon said that all submissions from the residents and the cycling advocacy group were considered by the planners, but there are no substantial changes .

"We are keeping the new paths, they are required, the school and An Taisce identified these paths. 97 per cent of parents support improvement works to make cycling and walking to school safer.

"There is great support for the scheme from the schools and we have a letter of support from LMETB. Everything was considered.

"The bulk of the work will be done over the summer months and there will be some off road works like the paths across the green that will take place in September and October."

In response to a question from Cllr Emer Tóibín he said the cost of the scheme was in the order of €500,000. "It is a substantial investment. There is traffic calming at the roundabout, there were issues with parking at the roundabout. There are improvement to the junction, improvement to cycling facilities, the new paths and the new entrance, it adds up quite a bit, there are 350 metres of new paths."

Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said it was a great scheme. "It is great to see so many paths that take children away from the road - they won't have to walk along the road. "The new pedestrian entrance to the school will take children away from the main road."

The Mayor, Cllr Eddie Fennessy, said he was a big advocate of these schemes. "It provides safety for children going to school."

Cllr Yemi Adenuga asked if there was a traffic management plan in place "just in case the work takes longer than expected."

Mr McKeon said there would be a plan in place but it wasn’t expected the in-road works would take place during the summer months.

The scheme includes construction of traffic calming measures, and new and upgraded cycle and pedestrian facilities on both sides of the L5057, from its junction with Beech Drive, to the roundabout adjacent to the Johnstown Education Campus. The existing pedestrian crossing on the L5057 is to be upgraded to link with new pathways extending north to Birch Lawns, south to Beech Drive, and south-east to the Johnstown Education Campus boundary.

A new gated non-vehicular access to Johnstown Education Campus and new footpaths within the campus also form part of the scheme.

Traffic calming measures and new and upgraded pedestrian crossings at the roundabout adjacent to Johnstown Education Campus are proposed along with an upgraded pedestrian crossing at the junction of the L5057 and Beech Drive (L50574).

There will be 50 metres of new pathway to provide direct access to the school campus from the neighbourhoods in the Johnstown area. All of these measures aim to encourage more walking and cycling to school and decrease the use of cars for picking up and dropping off school-aged children.

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