Safety concerns at County Roscommon junction ‘falling on deaf ears’

Safety concerns highlighted at the Donamon junction on the N60 at Oran “seem to be falling on deaf ears”, the September meeting of Roscommon Municipal District was told.

The remarks were made by Fianna Fáil councillor Marty McDermott when he criticised correspondence from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in response to his request for a meeting on the issue.

Cllr McDermott repeated concerns he had raised at previous MD meetings about poor visibility at the junction for oncoming cars in darkness.

At the September meeting of the MD, he renewed his call for a right-turn slip lane at the junction along with enhanced signage and road markings.

The TII correspondence read out at the September meeting noted that the signage and road markings at this location “comply with the standards set out in the Department of Transport’s ‘Traffic Signs Manual’.

“This is a new piece of road infrastructure designed to comply with TII design standards,” it said.

Cllr McDermott told the meeting that his “perception of safety and their perception of safety is at loggerheads”.

“I’m very disappointed with the response. Our views and concerns are not being taken on board seriously,” he said.

In response to Cllr McDermott’s request for a meeting, the TII, in its letter, said it was “not in a position to facilitate requests for meetings with individual Municipal Districts”.

His party colleague, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice suggested that a senior engineer from the council’s national roads design office, which had an input into the N60 project, could be invited to an MD meeting.

Cllr Fitzmaurice went on to express concerns about visibility at the Donamon junction. “When it is dark, it is very hard to know where the road is to Donamon,” he said.

Independent councillor Michael Holland informed the meeting how he personally experienced a dangerous incident recently when he was driving near that junction.

“I think we should bring that meeting forward as soon as possible,” he said.

Fianna Fáil councillor Larry Brennan also described the TII’s reply as “generic and disappointing” while Fine Gael councillor Ruth Conboy described the junction as an “accident risk”.

“We are all interested in alleviating those risks,” she said.

The Donamon junction is located on the N60 at Oran, where a €14m road realignment project was completed in 2020.

*Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.