Roscommon street undergoes dramatic changes
Works on Church Street in Roscommon Town, which is now one way, have been partially completed. Pic: Gerard O'Loughlin
Not for the first time, one of Roscommon Town’s oldest and busiest streets has undergone dramatic changes in recent weeks. Church Street has been partially reopened, following extensive Public Realm Enhancement Scheme works, which were designed by Kenny Lyons and Associates Architects with construction carried out by the Coffey Group.
Works on the street are still ongoing, with the remaining half expected to be reopened next month.
The street’s extensive history and it’s intrinsic value to the residents of Roscommon Town deems it an Architectural Conservation Area, making redevelopment a delicate process.
In turn, the patience of locals, drivers and business owners alike has been tested to achieve the goal of increasing safety and enhancing aesthetics on Church Street.
Business owners on the street have highlighted different issues, such as reduced footfall and some untidiness and debris during construction, but most were in agreement when it came to the long term benefit of the project.
Cllr Marty McDermott understands both sides of the tale, having supported the project from its proposal in the county council chamber combined with his 26 years of experience working at John Corcoran’s Menswear.
For over two months the road was closed and he acknowledged the impact this had on trade. “It harmed the footfall considerably, to be honest, businesses were taking a major hit. A lot of businesses were down 60-70% at least in their overall takings over the eight weeks,” he acknowledged.
In his near three decades working on the street, the Fianna Fáil councillor has witnessed numerous accidents on Church Street and he feels the new one-way system will greatly reduce danger.
“In respect to safety I would say it’s a huge addition to the street for children, elderly people and anyone that’s walking on that street can feel safer,” he said.
Across the street from Corcoran’s Menswear Rafaela da Silva runs her business, Dog Grooming by Rafa.
During construction, the noise of the works often frightened dogs entering her premises. “At the start, the roadworks made the dogs a little bit scared to come in. The dogs would jump a little bit and I have a lot of holders, with big dogs as well, but now it’s normal,” she added.
The new road layout is of particular importance to her clientele as Ms da Silva explained, “It’s safer now because it’s not too busy like it was. The footpath is wider now and before it was hard for old people with big dogs.”
Parking on the street has remained largely unchanged, but Ms da Silva did highlight an issue with many cars occupying the spaces for the entirety of the working day.
A similar issue was highlighted by Tony from the barbershop of the same name, Tony’s. He has a particular issue with cars parking for long periods of time in front of his business.
As a business owner he feels the reduced visibility of his premises has heavily impacted the number of customers he receives.
The direction of the one-way street has also taken its toll on the barber’s turnover, as he is at the beginning of the new road, with a lot of his customer base coming from the Galway direction.
As he tailors haircuts for customer’s with disabilities, the road’s closure made their access more difficult and he called for temporary and accessible parking spaces to be introduced.
Liam Stephen’s of Klassic Cleaners described himself as “50/50” with regard to the direction of the road, which he outlined in a survey given to businesses at the project’s early proposal stage.
However, for a walk-in business like his own, Mr Stephens agreed temporary parking spaces should be introduced. “We have requested that, kind of a half hour drop off which for a lot of businesses is needed.” Mr Stephens also proposed that access to the car park on Main Street be improved, to alleviate the pressure the relatively small park on Church Street is under.
Overall the Mr Stephens was complimentary on how the project has panned out, a sentiment shared by Sinead O’Grady, owner of the Hair Boutique.
Ms O’Grady also praised the construction workers who were very accommodating during the road closure.
For her customers, the increased size of new footpaths is important. “I would have noticed before with the old footpaths that clients were coming out the door and nearly getting off them with cars coming towards them.
The salon owner pointed out that the new look Church Street will have to come through some early teething issues.
“I find people still aren’t there yet and it’ll take a long time for them to get used to it,” she concluded.
