Campaignto getasafer accessroad
STUDENTS AT ST. ANGELA’S CAMPUS WANT A BETTER ACCESS ROUTE
A g roup of politics students from St. Angela’s College are campaigning for a better access road to the Lough Gill campus.
They say the current Lough Gill Loop or ( L7428) is not fit for purpose and a University campus deserves a better access road. They highlight a number of safety issues and want to see the status of the road changed and major improvements implemented. To this end, they have just launched a campaign to improve the road.
Spokesman Darragh Gilmartin explains: “The campaign is called ‘ Safer Roads to St Angelas College.’ What we are aiming for is a full revamp of the Lough Gill Loop Road leading to St Angela’s University.”
The students outline that the road has a number of serious problems from dangerous bends to poor visibility, no road markings and structural defects.
They say the junction exiting the main Dromahair Road for the college could be improved.
Darragh adds: There is a blind corner ahead on the main road. This makes it tricky to predict if there is oncoming traffic when turning off for the Lough Gill Loop Road. The risk here is the danger of speeding oncoming traffic.”
He continues: “There are no proper road markings on this road. This makes it hard for two way traffic to pass at the same time. The road is narrow in places and there is also loose chippings on sections of the road and this could cause skids and collisions.”
The Lough Gill Loop Road is local county road. This means it is a public road but it is not classified as a national primary road or national secondary road.
“We are lobbying to get this changed as it is no longer a Local County Road it is a main road leading out to St Angela’s College ( A National University of Ireland Galway),” says Darragh.
Another problem, he says, is the steep narrow bend before the college entrance. This is also a blind corner and it is very dangerous to foresee oncoming traffic.
The students issued questionaires to road users and are in the process of anaylsing that data. With regard to the speed limit, the group maintains at 80kph it is too high.
“We are aware that there was a deferred motion before a meeting in Sligo County Council on the 3rd of October 2016 to reduce the speed limit from 80kph to 50kph. What the outcome of this is we do not know. What we do know is as it stands today the speed limit is still 80kph,” Darragh warns.
The road is also unsuitable for for college coaches and unsafe for pedestrians. The students have also launched an online petition. “We are hoping to present our Questionnaires and Petition to The Road Safety Authority and The Director of Infrastructure on Sligo County Council.”