South Drogheda and East Meath Fianna Fáil Councillor Stephen McKee is calling for additional road safety measures outside Whitecross National School in Julianstown.
McKee said the school’s location on the busy Regional Dublin Road, along with delays to planned traffic calming works, means more needs to be done to protect children in the area.
Given the school’s location on the extremely busy Regional Dublin Road and the delays in work starting on the new Julianstown Traffic Calming Scheme, it is clear to me that we need additional road safety measures to make the area safer for local children, he said.
He previously put forward a motion calling for a school warden to be in place outside the school at peak times. While the motion was supported by councillors, it was not backed by council officials.
I previously tabled a Motion calling for a School Warden outside the school at peak times; the Motion was supported by my fellow Councillors, but the Council officials were not supportive unfortunately. I intend to raise this as an option again.
McKee said that while Meath County Council has pointed to existing infrastructure such as footpaths and a crossing, this does not fully address the situation on the ground.
Meath County Council have told me that built infrastructure is already in place outside Whitecross NS such as the footpaths and crossing but this does not take into account the fact that cars quite often break the lights on that section of road close to the school.
He said he had previously met with concerned parents outside the school and described the traffic conditions as unsafe.
I was happy to meet previously with concerned parents outside the School one afternoon and the traffic situation was all very chaotic and in my view, unsafe for children.
He is now calling for the Julianstown Traffic Calming Scheme to be progressed as soon as possible, noting that it has already received funding.
We need to urgently see the start of the Julianstown Traffic Calming Scheme, which has already received significant funding under the Capital Investment Programme for the area. Traffic calming is badly needed through the village. The proposed scheme will include measures such as widening footpaths, narrowing the carriageway and changes to junction layouts to slow traffic through Julianstown.
