New traffic calming measures and improved pedestrian facilities are to be put in place at New Road in Killarney where pupils from three secondary schools and two primary schools congregate in the mornings and afternoons for school transport purposes.
Local councillors unanimously agreed to the proposals at a meeting this Wednesday and it will see the provision of a new controlled pedestrian crossing adjacent to the entrance to St Brendan’s College to allow a safe passage to allocated bus and set-down areas as well as an upgrade of an existing crossing further along the road.
Removable traffic bollards and information signage will be put in place at the junction of New Road-Port Road and also at New Road-St Mary’s Terrace junction.
The one-way traffic system in place during school closing times will be amended from the current time of 2.45pm to 4.00pm to align with revised school hours.
The one-way will now instead be enforced from 8.15am to 9.15am on the five school mornings, from 3.15pm to 4.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays and from 12.45pm to 2.00pm on Wednesdays when the secondary schools finish early.
The Section 38 plans were put out for public consultation but no observations or representations were received, apart from a late submission from An Garda Siochána in relation to the amended one-way system time periods.
Gardai said, from an operational perspective, they could not recommend the increase in duration as the extension could impact negatively on their response time.
Mayor Niall Kelleher and a number of other councillors expressed surprise that there had been no written submission from any of the schools, particularly as the two primary schools would still be operating classes for at least 20 minutes longer that the time the one-way system finished at 2.00pm on Wednesdays.
Cllr John O’Donoghue said he too would find it hard to believe that the principals of the two primary schools didn’t have anything to say about it.
Killarney Municipal District Engineer, John Ahern, confirmed that every aspect of the plan had been discussed in advance with the principals and copies of the proposals had been dropped to the schools.
“There were no comments back but there were extensive discussions,” he remarked.
Mayor Kelleher asked if the one-way system in operation on Wednesdays could be extended until the two primary schools had finished and pupils had gone home but he was told that no amendments could be made to the Part 38 planning process but the situation would be monitored going forward and amended, if necessary.
Cllr Brendan Cronin aid the area had been problematic for years as people in cars and other vehicles were behaving as they shouldn’t be at a time when 2,000 students were coming and going.
Cllr Niall O’Callaghan, meanwhile, said steps would be needed to provide adequate parking for teachers and he also stressed the need for a park and ride system from New Street car park to alleviate congestion in the area.
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