Traffic congestion in Mayo town worsens with high volume of complaints over shortened filter lane
Standing orders were briefly suspended at the March meeting of Ballina Municipal District Council as members raised concerns over the shortening of a filter lane on Kevin Barry Street.
Councillors reported they had received a high volume of correspondence from their constituents complaining that the change has significantly increased traffic congestion.
Traffic delays in Ballina have long been a concern, with journey times across the town reaching up to 45 minutes during peak periods, as traffic backs up along the Foxford Road.
The shortening of the filter lane is part of a temporary trial, introduced to improve safety for those accessing Ballina Medical Centre and Atlantic Medical Centre.
Kevin Barry Street provides access to both medical centres, with two left-turn entrances along the route for those entering Ballina from the Foxford Road direction, one before Mulligan Pharmacy and another approximately 30 metres further on near Harrison Pharmacy.
The left lane is used by traffic heading towards Crossmolina via Lord Edward Street, while the right lane continues into the town centre along Teeling Street.
Traffic for these routes is currently confined to a single lane until just before the traffic lights, where vehicles can then indicate to move into the left lane.
Cllr Michael Loftus said the changes are causing major traffic disruption, particularly during peak travel times, and warned: “if it’s not removed ASAP, then we are going to have a serious issue.”
He also questioned how the trial is being monitored, stating he hasn’t seen “any information yet to justify what is there.”
Cllr Annie May Reape called for the closure to be reversed and for alternative safety measures to be explored, saying businesses are being affected as road users are avoiding the town due to delays.
“We can't have that, and the garages along Station Road are all affected. There is a delay there every single day,” she said.
Cllr Reape also noted that barriers were removed during St Patrick’s Day and reinstated the following day.
Council officials said they were unaware who removed them, adding it was done without the knowledge of either the council or An Garda Síochána.
Cllr Marie-Therese Duffy asked whether alternative options could be explored to “keep the filter lane at all costs”, including the possibility of a new entrance to the medical centres via Lord Edward Street.
Councillors had previously considered the matter at a roads workshop, where they proposed the partial closure of the filter lane alongside other measures such as ripple lanes or speed ramps, aimed at reducing traffic speed and improving safety for vehicles accessing both medical centres.
Head Engineer Orla Bourke said the trial is being monitored and confirmed a meeting with Traffic Solutions is scheduled this week. She added that she is awaiting traffic flow data, which she expects to receive within the next week to 10 days.
She explained that, as agreed at the roads workshop, the shortening of the filter lane will be reviewed after a “minimum of two weeks.”
“I'm not disputing there is a traffic issue in town, but it is not being caused by the shortening of the left-hand filter lane,” she said.
Cllr Loftus then asked Director of Services Catherine McConnell to overturn the decision made by council roads officials and remove the closure immediately.
“We said two weeks at the workshop [to have the traffic monitoring] information, we haven’t got it,” he said.
He expressed frustration that other safety measures discussed at the workshop level hadn’t “been looked at or discussed”, while the filter lane change remains in place.
Ms McConnell reiterated that the agreed minimum monitoring period of two weeks had only just elapsed and said this timeframe must be respected to allow engineers to gather data.
“I accept that you have taken a lot of calls, we have had a lot of correspondence coming in saying ‘Thank you, this has made access to the Ballina Medical Centre and the Atlantic Medical Centre safer’,” she said.
She also pointed to the substantial increase in cars on the road, not just in Ballina but nationwide, noting that the road network is a “finite space” and more cars inevitably lead to more traffic congestion.
“There was congestion on the Ballina road long before the filter lane was shortened,” she explained.
Ms Connell said she would be “quite blunt” in her next comment, as she outlined that the primary purpose of the change is to improve safety.
“A 10-minute inconvenience for anyone coming into town is a small price to pay to keep the people using the [medical] facilities safe,” she said.
“There is only so much road space, we have to learn how to share it and slow down. Driver behaviour is one of the single biggest problems with issues on the road,” she noted.
She acknowledged that councillors are “feeling the heat” from constituents but asked for time to allow the traffic data to come back and be analysed.
The issue will return to the council agenda in April, when members will review the results of the trial and consider other safety options for Kevin Barry Street.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.