Dublin Bridge filter lane proposal 'off the table'
The removal of filter lanes that had been proposed at the Dublin Bridge in Mullingar as part of an Active Travel scheme is off the table.
Mullingar councillors, Andrew Duncan and Ken Glynn, have been working together on the issue, and have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the first draft of a plan for the Dublin Road.
This afternoon (Tuesday) Cllrs Glynn and Duncan told the Westmeath Examiner that council officials have assured them that the Dublin Bridge filter lanes for traffic going to and from the Devlin Road will not be removed.
Cllr Glynn said: “It was confirmed to me by the district that the filter lanes at Dublin Bridge will not be touched as part of any Active Travel project. That aspect is now off the table and will be staying off the table, so they’re going to revisit it and see what they can do.”
Cllr Duncan added: “That was it, but they still have to come back with a draft. The only thing we have assurance on at this stage is that the filter lanes will not be removed.
“But that won’t do me. I’ll be looking for a little bit more. They want to narrow the road, but I want to see more speed ramps and tabletops to slow traffic – not bottlenecks. So there’s still a bit to go yet.”
Cllr Duncan plans to go further on the issue of Active Travel.
He said: “I’m actively looking for the pause of Active Travel in Westmeath and for the minister of transport to review the entire Active Travel programme.”
He plans to put a motion forward at next Monday’s meeting of Westmeath County Council to that effect, and believes his fellow councillors will back him.
He says Active Travel “is being used to gridlock towns, a policy to force people into what they [officials] regard as a modal shift”.
“Everybody is kind of firefighting projects in their own areas, but they’re not fully aware of what’s really behind it all. And to me, unless people start to wake up, a lot of rural towns are going to be in a lot of trouble in terms of traffic and cars, down the road. This notion that we’ll all be on bikes is a load of bloody nonsense.”
The Examiner has contacted Westmeath County Council for comment, and will publish that when we receive it.
READ ALSO
Dublin Road cycle path about ‘giving alternative to the car’