Athlone streetscape work due to finish later this month

The streetscape revamp which has been underway in Athlone since early last year is due to be completed before the end of this month.

The redevelopment work at Mardyke Street, Pump Lane, and the now-pedestrianised section of Sean Costello Street, began in March 2023 and has cost more than €4 million.

Updating councillors at the July meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, Dermot Killeen of the council's regeneration project team said the work in front of Dunnes Stores in Irishtown was within days of being completed and the remainder of the project would then be centred around Sweeney's corner in Mardyke Street.

He said old street lights were being removed and new lights were being commissioned, with the "installation of paving, seating and other features" on the new streetscape also nearing completion.

Mr Killeen said the completion of the project was due in "mid to late July" but he acknowledged that, with builders' holidays factored in, it could be the end of the month before the finish line is reached.

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke said he was "a little concerned" that the projected completion of the project was now edging closer to the timing of the two festivals in Athlone in early August: Féile na Sionainne and the Viking River Fest.

But it was the impact of the new traffic lights in and around the junction between Mardyke Street and St Mary's Square which dominated the hour-long discussion on the project at last week's meeting.

Cllr Frankie Keena said local representatives were previously shown traffic models, prepared by consultants, which showed no major tailbacks when the new traffic signals came into effect, and that these models clearly weren't accurate.

The absence of a right turning lane onto Mardyke Street, when coming from Gleeson Street, was a major flaw of the current system, according to Cllr Aengus O'Rourke, who said anyone looking to turn right was now holding up a line of traffic behind them.

District Manager Willie Ryan said more time for "experimentation" and for "tweaking" the current system was needed before any dramatic changes were made to it.

He said a right turning lane, for those turning onto Mardyke Street, was initially part of the design for the junction. This had allowed one - or possibly two - cars to "sit in" in the middle of the road, allowing traffic to move either side of their vehicle, before making the right turn.

"That (lane) is gone now, in the interest of making the road space narrower for (the benefit of) pedestrians," said Mr Ryan.

"Reintroducing the right-turn lane has to be one of the things we consider down the road," he added.

“But it would be a knee-jerk reaction to start ripping up pavings to put in one additional right turn lane.

"Really it could only accommodate one, or a maximum of two, cars before the road space narrows again. It would be a lot of expenditure for a nominal right-turn lane, but it could be necessary as one of the solutions, after a monitoring period," he said.

Council management was also asked about the 'eyesore' former O'Neill's pub site, and director of services Ambrose Clarke reiterated that if a buyer for the site was not found soon the local authority would look to design a building there and then try to sell the site with planning permission in place.

He said that, in the meantime, the council would be looking to update the hoarding boards that are currently in place at the site of the former pub which was destroyed by fire in 2010.