Blanket 30km speed limit mooted for Athlone urban area

A blanket speed limit of 30km per hour could be introduced across all urban areas of Athlone in the coming years as part of an effort to make car travel less desirable and make roads safer and more attractive to cyclists.

The lowering of speed limits to 30km throughout the town, between now and the end of the decade, is one of the objectives contained in a new transport blueprint for the Athlone area which was presented to councillors at this month's meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District.

"We have to get the operating speeds down below 30km per hour within urban areas," Westmeath County Council director of services Barry Kehoe told the meeting.

"In the future, there probably will be less cars in the town, and people will make more small journeys by foot, by cycling and walking.

"There will be less parking as well, better public realm, and better public transport. It will be more socially inclusive as time goes on, because it's likely that cars will get much more expensive."

However, Cllr Paul Hogan voiced "huge concern" about the introduction of a universal 30km speed limit throughout the town, saying it would cause "a lot of upset" among motorists.

"In the town centre at the moment, the 50km zones go from Cornamaddy to Baylough and out to Kilmartin's. If it's considered to drop those to 30km per hour... I understand the rationale behind it, but it's going to cause a lot of upset," Cllr Hogan said.

The speed limit proposal was one of a number of measures contained in the Athlone Area-based Transport Assessment, a new 200-page report prepared over recent years by consultants Systra on behalf of both Westmeath and Roscommon County Councils.

The document sets out a long-term vision for transport in the Athlone area and includes a number of eye-catching objectives. These include the preparation of a feasibility study on developing a second train station for the town off the Dublin Road, to the south east of the DPD depot and Athlone Business Park.

The plan also proposes replacing the Kilmartin's N6 roundabout with a signalised junction between now and 2035.

"Given relatively compact nature of the roundabout, accommodating five arms, the most appropriate solution to upgrading the junction to facilitate safe pedestrian and cycling access is likely to be the provision of a signalised junction replacing the current roundabout," the report states.

In addition, the report sets out the possible long-term development of a number of new link roads in the town, most notably an R7 'East Athlone Relief Route' that would connect the M6 motorway, at junction 8, with the N55 Ballymahon Road, north of Cornamaddy.

A Coosan to Cornamaddy link road is also proposed, while on the west side of the town the creation of a link road from the Monksland area to the N61 Roscommon Road is another objective.

Andrew Archer of consultants Systra gave a presentation about the Athlone Area-based Transport Assessment at Monday's meeting, saying it contained "a wishlist of various transport measures to support sustainable growth in the town."

The transport assessment was welcomed by councillors at Monday's meeting, with the newly-elected Mayor of the Athlone Moate district, Louise Heavin, describing it as "long-awaited".

"It gives us that path towards sustainable development, and moves us towards a low-carbon town and transport system," said Cllr Heavin.

Cllr Frankie Keena said he was concerned about the "huge congestion" at the moment on the N55 Ballymahon Road and "on the old Dublin Road, in from the Birr junction to the N6 roundabout, in the morning."

He noted that the transport assessment didn't include the objective of creating a new link road from the rear of the Creggan Court Hotel towards the Golden Island area - a development which he felt could ease some of the current congestion.

Cllr John Dolan said rural people needed to be facilitated in Athlone's future transport provision, because "unless there's a regular bus service they'll have to use their car, and they'll have to park their car somewhere."

The idea of developing a new train station to the rear of the DPD facility in east Athlone was something Cllr Hogan said could be of real benefit to the area.

"Strategically it makes sense because a lot of students who are studying now in TUS would drive to college, whereas if there was a designated train stop in the vicinity of TUS it might encourage more students to get the train,” he said.

"Certainly I think it would benefit the town hugely, in terms of reducing the number of cars coming in and out of town," he added.

However, Cllr Hogan raised an eyebrow at a line in the report which predicted that 70% of people in rural Ireland would have buses providing at least three trips per day to their nearby town by 2030.

"If you put that on the Westmeath map at the moment, I guarantee you that the number of people in rural Ireland that have three buses daily is far less than 70%," said Cllr Hogan.