Traffic chaos highlighted at Ballyjamesduff schools

Over 1,000 new houses were built in Ballyjamesduff during the boom, doubling the population of the town. Infrastructure such as a new school and crèche has been put in place adjacent to St. Clare's College to absorb the additional demand for services. While there are hundreds more pupils at both the primary and the secondary schools, now the burning issue of traffic chaos and congestion has manifested itself in major way. The Ballyjamesduff/Virginia road is normally a very busy route, according to Cllr. Paddy Smith. He carried out a survey one morning recently between 8.30am and 9.30am and ascertained that 650 vehicles passed him in that hour alone. Between children and staff, there are over 900 people converging on these three centres within that small time space each morning. He is calling for traffic calming measures to be put in place on this busy road to ensure that traffic is forced to radically slow down. This could be in the form of either ramps or traffic islands. There is also talk of a pedestrian crossing. Fr. Donal Kilduff, who is chairman of the St. Clare's NS Board of Management, said he's not surprised that 650 cars were the road in one hour in view of the fact that there are two schools and a new crèche adjacent to the main road. With the way the town has increased in population over the past five years, the school has gone from six to eight to 14 rooms. He revealed that a lot of young families moved to Ballyjamesduff for the affordable housing. There are now 380 pupils in the primary school. The principal of St. Clare's College, Sean Fegan, said that as part of their planning permission for the extension to the college, they are obliged to put a safe footpath in place along the road frontage. When this is in place, he understands that the County Council plans to install a pedestrian crossing at a safe location on the road. Mr. Fegan revealed that there were 200 students in the college six years ago and now they are going over the 400 mark. "This rapid expansion in numbers has infrastructural issues attached, which we all have to address," he remarked. A major extension is now progressing at the college. The arrival of the new creche complex and the new road between both schools has relieved the situation to a degree. The principal of St Clare's NS, Eimear Doherty, revealed that there were 380 pupils in the school and 100 of those are aged between four and five years old. "So for parents dropping off children early in the morning, it is definitely dangerous. Obviously their safety would be of utmost importance to all of us," she said. "We do feel that there is a need for some form of traffic calming, which would have the effect of slowing down the traffic and afford the children an opportunity to cross the road in safety," added Ms. Doherty. She revealed that the school had been encouraging parents to park down at the church. "But it must be emphasised that if there are 380 children walking on a footpath that is jutting out a little piece on the road, there are inherent dangers. So apart from footpath infrastructure, something else should be erected to ensure their safety," she explained. The manager of the creche, Yvonne Ward, said there were now 75 children in the childcare facility and this too has added to the volume of traffic arriving in the morning. "We would hope to have outings with the older children that are able to walk. Unfortunately, due to the way the traffic is at present, there is no way we could ensure their safety. Traffic calming here on this road is an absolute necessity," she insisted. The creche also offers after school collections from the primary school and the children are walked up to the crèche by staff members. Cllr. Paddy Smith said that Kevin Sexton, engineer, had one of the road design people out there recently. It is hoped to put a continuous footpath in place so that people can walk in safety and avoid vehicles being parked in such a position, which would necessitate them going out into the roadway to get past unhindered. There are also plans to change the entrances to the secondary school so as to make them safer. Cllr. Smith pointed out that a lot of traffic from Greenore Port travels along this route going to the west and this includes heavy lorries carrying grain and peat and beans etc. Motorists seem to ignore the flashing lights at the school as they drive into Ballyjamesduff from the Virginia direction. He is suggesting that a ramp be put in at that location sonner rather than later. He said that parents had been asked on a number of occasions to park their cars either outside of the church or inside of the church grounds. Parents are parking their cars up on footpaths and this is pushing children out onto the road. Cllr. Smith is requesting parents be more responsible and park their cars in the car parks provided.