THE community in Crossbarry has been waiting over 10 years for something to be done about traffic in the village, with one councillor warning that a fatality could happen there unless traffic calming measures are made a priority.
At a recent meeting of the Western Division, Cllr John Collins (Ind Ire) said he met with the residents recently and their biggest concern is the fact that this is going on for 10 years. He said the current situation with the bridge is an accident waiting to happen and the situation is even worse during summer holidays.
Cllr Alan Coleman (Ind) said signalisation and a pedestrian bridge are needed for Crossbarry but also said a pedestrian crossing on a raised table is needed, especially for the school children who get dropped off by the buses every day and cross the road into the housing estates.
‘If we are doing something we shouldn’t just concentrate on the bridge, but we should look at the village itself in totality and come up with a traffic calming plan for the whole village,’ he said.
‘I’d like to go back to them with some sort of a timeline as they are fed up waiting for 10 years on this,’ said Cllr Collins.
Cllr Marie O’Sullivan (FG), who was elected chair of the Western Division at that meeting, concurred with her colleagues from the Bandon Kinsale area about the bridge situation, and said they need to look at the geography of the area and see what is the most suitable solution to make it safer for everyone in the village.
A Council official said signalisation for the village is something they are considering and once they have a plan they will return to the Municipal District and the residents on this. No timeline was given to councillors as they were told that a design and plan must be agreed with first. ‘We are working on preliminary design at the moment,’ the Council official said.
