‘Active Travel programme leads to traffic congestion’ – Duncan

Westmeath’s councillors have called for a review of the local authority’s Active Travel Programme following mounting concerns over traffic congestion, road narrowing, and insufficient consultation.

At the March meeting, Cllr Andrew Duncan put forward a motion requesting that the council “pause the Active Travel Programme in the county and request the Minister of Transport to carry out an urgent review of the scope and long-term objectives of same”.

He then withdrew the word “pause” and modified his motion to request that the council “review” the programme.

One of the key issues raised was the impact of Active Travel projects on traffic congestion, particularly in Mullingar and Athlone.

“It appears to me now that these schemes have been designed to create traffic congestion in town core areas to discourage drivers from entering the town,” said Cllr Duncan.

“I’ve said this numerous times, it’s been refuted, but I absolutely 100% believe that that’s the design process.”

He also pointed to the scale of government funding for such projects, hitting out at former Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and his party policies and arguing that other priorities, such as basic road safety improvements, were being neglected.

“So we are in effect spending 20% of the entire transport budget on the whim of an ideologue, who is now gone, so is his party, and with a bit of luck they’ll never be seen again,” he said.

“But here we are, we’re faced with the repercussions of these flippin’ crackpots, and I feel that the general public have to be aware just how deep and how far reaching these types of policies are, and how they’re going to affect them.

“Many of the people travelling to town travel from rural areas – they’re not going to walk into town and get on a bike, we’re actually pushing them out of Mullingar to spend their money somewhere else.”

Cllr Ken Glynn, who seconded the motion, criticised the lack of consultation with councillors before significant road changes were implemented. He cited the case of Ashe Road, where changes were made with “no consultation, no nothing”, leading to “an absolute mess” that caused confusion for residents and local businesses.

“We were hung out to dry in that, because we are the point of contact for the general public out there, we are the point of contact when people want to have their say or ask questions,” he said.

Frustration

“So I support the motion. It’s frustrating. I’m hugely frustrated, and I seem to spend more time at council meetings talking about traffic, roads and stuff like that, whereas if we just come together and make sure that there was better consultation, and we listen, because we’re not being listened to, and that’s the problem.”

Cllr Denis Leonard echoed those sentiments and argued that national policy was failing to address Westmeath’s specific transport needs.

“If Eamon Ryan was serious about 50% of people not travelling in cars by 2030, he would have opened the Mullingar to Athlone line, Killucan station, a whole load of other transport projects, and put on all kinds of TFI projects,” he said.

“That’s the way to bring in Active Travel because people will take the bus into town or they would take a park and ride option to park and get the town bus from Mullingar through the town and still shop here because they could get around – they wouldn’t have to worry about parking their cars.”

Councillors also stressed that, while urban areas were facing significant traffic problems, smaller towns and villages had different needs.

Cllr Niall Gaffney argued that Active Travel could play a valuable role in rural communities, but only when done correctly.

“In some of our rural villages, we have so much through traffic. The vast majority of cars on the N51, N52 aren’t stopping for diesel in Delvin. They’re not stopping for a cup of coffee. So, when it comes to Active Travel in those villages, they’re so important,” he said.

He pointed to the installation of speed bumps outside Delvin National School as an example of an effective project, but agreed that a level of local engagement and consultation with elected representatives “has to be at the forefront of any project”.

Several councillors emphasised that Active Travel projects should not move ahead without proper infrastructure and public transport alternatives.

Cllr Alfie Devine expressed relief at the change in wording on the motion, stating that there was “great work going on” and warning that Westmeath would be putting the “cart before the horse” if it were to pause the programme.

“Put in the infrastructure. Put in the public transport structure before you start trying to stop cars. And it’s not there yet,” he said.

“I support to a point, but definitely we can’t stop what’s going on outside of the town of Mullingar. There’s other towns and villages that have work going on.

“There’s great work going on, and we welcome it, and we want to continue doing it. Let’s not just panic on it or press the self-destruct button on it. We need to just review each individual job as it comes up, in particular, in the two major towns.”

Chief executive Barry Kehoe proposed a separate meeting with councillors to go through the issues raised in detail.

“I’m not proposing to get into the projects or key points made here today, but I do want to say clearly that what we are doing is designing schemes to create a safer and more pleasant environment in every urban area across the county,” he said.

“We’re not doing anything to cause congestion. I would welcome an engagement with the Mullingar members, maybe separately on the issues in Mullingar.

“Let’s have that discussion and go through the history of the various projects that have been mentioned here today,” he concluded.