Tensions flaring in busy Mayo town over controversial traffic change

TENSIONS flared at a meeting of the Ballina Municipal District as councillors clashed with council officials over the removal of changes to the filter lane on Francis Road, with some members calling for an immediate reversal of the decision while officials urged patience pending traffic data and initial improved safety response.

The meeting, chaired by cathaoirleach Councillor Jarlath Munnelly, saw a sustained and at times heated exchange between elected members and officials, with Councillor Michael Loftus producing photographic evidence of weekend traffic queues extending well beyond Tuffy’s Gala on the town's approach roads from Foxford.

Councillor Annie May Reape (Fianna Fáil) raised the issue at the outset and proposed that standing orders be suspended given the urgency of the matter, a move supported by her colleague Councillor Loftus.

She said she could not let the situation continue and warned against businesses being driven out of the town.

She recalled traffic on St. Patrick's Day, when it had been removed (unbeknownst to the local authority and gardaí), was moving well until the following day and said she was "not living on cuckoo land" in pressing for change.

She also suggested that business owners on Station Road be invited to meet with council representatives in the town.

Councillor Loftus said he had received a flood of emails and calls over the past month and challenged officials to show evidence that the current monitoring was working.

He said a two-week review window had been agreed at a workshop and accused the council of allowing the matter to roll on without resolution.

Holding up a photograph of Saturday's traffic tail-back, he addressed director of services Catherine McConnell directly. "I am asking you as director of services to overturn this decision," he said.

Councillor Reape added that ambulance drivers had been among those contacting councillors about the traffic issues.

Councillor Marie Thérèse Duffy said she had also been inundated with correspondence and called for alternative access arrangements at the medical centre on Lord Edward Street, including at both entrances. Her query regarding an entrance on Lord Edward Street was confirmed to not be viable according to area staff who had looked into it previously.

Councillor Duffy asked whether a left-turn only lane could be maintained, or a ramp provided, and said the filter lane should be retained at all costs. She also called on the council to prioritise the eastern bypass of Ballina as the county's primary road project.

Councillor John O'Hara recalled raising the dangerous conditions at the medical centre three years ago, noting that vehicles exiting the centre and swinging right into oncoming traffic had created an accident black spot.

He argued the town urgently needed a new bridge and said the “sterilised route” through Hollister, Church Road and Behy Road by the rugby club needed to be activated.

He said he had raised the matter with Minister Dara Calleary on St. Patrick's Day and urged him to ensure TII engineers engage with the council. "Bridges were built in the 1800s," he said. "Surely to God we are entitled to another bridge to address a dangerous situation."

Area engineer Orla Bourke said data from the town's Mobus traffic light system would be available within a week to ten days. She acknowledged a traffic problem existed in Ballina but said she was not in agreement that the filter lane itself was the cause, and suggested that perceptions played a role in how congestion was being experienced.

She noted that a western bypass remained approximately five years away and that the eastern bypass had not progressed.

Director of services Catherine McConnell urged colleagues to allow the process to run its course, noting that a minimum two-week window was required before meaningful findings could be presented. She said calls received from the primary care centre had been positive and that staff welcomed the improved safety.

She also stressed that a ten-minute delay was a small price to pay to keep people safe. "Driver behaviour is the single biggest issue," she said.

Councillor Munnelly said the debate proved the need for a dedicated roads presentation to the municipal district and acknowledged the town's traffic situation would worsen before it improved.

Head of the municipal district, Declan Turnbull confirmed a meeting would be arranged with the new director of roads, David Mellett. He said a local transport plan for Ballina had first been developed five years ago and that subsequent funding applications to progress a new plan had been unsuccessful.

Councillor Loftus said he felt the council was being let off too easily. "We said two weeks at the workshop. It's now two weeks and another two weeks."

* Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.