Concern over traffic jams near St Mary’s Hospital

Traffic jams in the region of St Mary’s Hospital are causing “a fairly significant issue” for staff at the hospital, Cllr Andrew Duncan told officials at the November meeting of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

He explained that when there is a lot of traffic going to and from St Finian’s College, staff trying to access St Mary’s have difficulty – with the result that motorists are having to sit in traffic waiting for a gap to come – but at the same time, they are holding up traffic that wants to go back out.

He suggested that to alleviate the problem, the council install a yellow box/calming measure at the entrance to St Mary’s Hospital.

The official written response to Cllr Duncan’s request stated that the district has applied for funding for low-cost safety works at that location.

Cllr Duncan welcomed the response: “I’d just like to make sure that it’s done fairly quickly,” he said. “It’s a very simple bit of work, but it could have a fairly significant impact for staff members – and not just staff members but people who are held up in traffic as staff members wait for a gap to come to get into the building.”

Cllr Ken Glynn supported the motion, and reminded the executive to he has brought to their attention a similar issue that affects pedestrians on the Castlepollard Road main entrance.

Responding to that, district engineer Pat Kavanagh said that he met with the general manager of the regional hospital, together with council staff over the issue.

“We’ve asked them to carry out some internal works in St Mary’s as well, to try to direct people that are walking across that area. So we’ve actually made an application from the district for low cost safety works at this location.”

Mr Kavanagh went on to say that on the other side of the roundabout, a planning application has recently come in for apartment block, and a condition has been imposed requiring the developers to facilitate pedestrians.