‘Serious accident’ waiting to happen at Laois roundabout
There have been many “close calls” with accidents in a Laois town as a roundabout has essentially disappeared.
Laois County Council has been requested to replace the road markings at the junction of O’Moore Street and Emmet Street on the N80 in Mountmellick .
Councillor Paddy Bracken brought the issue to the attention of the council at the recent meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory/Mountmellick MD.
The painted roundabout at the junction “doesn’t exist anymore” which has caused serious road safety concerns in the town, according to Cllr Bracken.
“There have been so many close calls there with accidents. There’s nothing to indicate that there is a roundabout there,” the Fianna Fáil councillor said.
“That roundabout needs to be painted and highlighted immediately. There will be a serious accident. There’s a huge volume of traffic flowing through that. There’s no one stopping, no one giving away, nothing.”
Laois County Council informed Cllr Bracken that a new storm water sewer is scheduled to be laid early in the third quarter of this year from this junction to a point 75 metres along O’Moore Street.
The road markings on the junction and its approaches will be provided following the completion of these works.
However, Cllr Bracken said he does not accept having to wait for the storm water sewer works to be completed.
“I need it done straight away other than that there’ll be a serious accident. I don’t accept waiting on that other work to be done because it’s too long to wait,” he argued.
The Senior Executive Engineer for the MD, Rory O’Callaghan, explained that the council will be connecting a storm water manhole in the middle of the roundabout and so it will have to be repainted after the works if it is done before then.
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