Roundabouttheonly WheatonHallsolution
CLLR Tommy Byrne may be bowing out of public service this summer; however, he would dearly love to see one of his most hard-faught issues resolved as his swan-song.
The Fianna Fail councillor is a resident of Wheaton Hall, off the Dublin Road, and has campaigned for almost 15 years for traffic management at the busy junction. He is now convinced that what he calls ‘ the lethal right turn for the town’ at Wheaton Hall, must be finally resolved by a small roundabout.
“It is my sincere wish to finally resolve this lethal right turn at the entrance to Wheaton Hall,” he told the Drogheda Independent.
“This is a huge public safety issue, with numerous car accidents and near misses over the years. Some motorists are driving fast up the Dublin Road and others are inadvertently sitting in the yellow box. It is time something was done before it is too late.”
Cllr Byrne raised the issue at the recent meeting of Drogheda Municipal Council, when he said the residents are particularly concerned by the dangerous junction.
“I attended the recent Annual General Meeting of Wheaton Hall residents and it is the most important safety issue in the entire estate,” he added. “There are almost 400 houses in Wheaton Hall, in addition to a busy shopping centre, so you can only imagine, the massive amount of traffic in and out of the estate. Louth County Council carried out works over the years here, which unfortunately did not resolve the problem.”
It was back in March 2002 that the Drogheda Independent first reported on Cllr Byrne’s concerns about the safety of this junction. In 2016, a yellow box was painted at the entrance to the large estate.
At the recent November meeting, Cllr Byrne was told an assessment would be carried out to see if a roundabout would be possible. “We will have to assess the width of the road to see if a roundabout would be possible, said senior council engineer Mark Johnston.