Pedestrian crossing in Laois town must be made accessible for impaired people
Mountrath town
A NON-compliant pedestrian crossing on Patrick Street, Mountrath must be urgently made more accessible for movement impaired individuals as traffic on the fast-moving road poses significant safety issues.
The issue of the non-accessible crossing was raised by independent councillor James Kelly, who, in making the case to his fellow councillors, highlighted a recent instance of a wheelchair-user local trying to traverse the road at the crossing. However, the wheelchair-user was severely hindered by the fact that there was no slope down onto and off the road, making the crossing quite inaccessible for that person â and, presumably, for other people with similar movement restrictions â and thereby forcing them to travel further to make a crossing.
Responding to his concerns, a representative of Laois Co Council's area office said that they visited the location and assessed the situation and their conclusions chimed with the councillor's concerns; that is, that infrastructure upgrades were required at that location to ensure accessibility compliance with planned improvements, including the installation of drop kerbs.
However, while the representative from Laois Co Council said that there was both a moral and policy requirement for the modifications, costings showed that there was no budget available at this time.
Responding to that blow, Cllr James Kelly said: "I’m very disappointed that there is no money available because this is an urgent road safety issue and we are going to have to get the budget from somewhere."
