Call to ban heavy vehicles from Maxwell’s Row

Calls to ban vehicles over 5 tonne from entering Maxswell’s Row were made at the public meeting of the Dundalk Joint Policing Committee last week.

The meeting heard that traffic, including lorries, was using the residential street as a short cut due to the traffic diversions which are in place while major works are carried out in the Church Street area.

A local resident called for a ban on HGVs from entering the street to be put in place, saying that this was something the residents had wanted for 22 years. A similar ban had been put in place in nearby Wolfe Tone Tce.

He also called for a full time school warden for the Castletown Road, saying that there was no school warden some days of the week, since the full time warden was no longer available. He appreciated that one of the community guards did try to fill the gap but wasn’t there all the time.

Supt Gerry Curley promised that he would try to have one of the guards there to monitor the young people as they were concerned about the traffic and also because they know that young people are being targeted by drug dealers before and after. There was a period when they didn’t have the resources to send a guarda down but now that there was an extra member in the Community Policing Team they should be able to do that.

The meeting heard that a wall at Maxwell’s Row had been knocked down by a lorry and it was lucky no child had been walking there or it would have been killed. While speed bumps might slow down boy racers they wouldn’t stop HGVs from using the street.

Mr Paddy Donnelly from Louth County Council said that speed mitigation measures had been put in place but drivers needed to be educated.

He said that a traffic management plan was in place in relation to the upgrade of Church St and the council had consulted with the Gardai and emergency services, but drivers will find alternative routes. He said he would look into why the 5 tonne limit wasn’t progressed.

He added that garda clearance is required before a school warden is appointed and they don’t have any spare school wardens to send to that area.