Bureaucracy slows footpath construction in Passage West

Independent councillor Marcia D’Alton urged council engineers to provide “safer active travel options” to Star of the Sea (pictured) and St Peter’s schools in Passage West.

Bureaucracy is hampering the construction of a footpath badly needed for the safety of schoolchildren in a harbourside town.

The National Transport Authority (NTA) insists the footpath has to be 1.8m wide, which is impossible at present on the narrow roadway where it is needed.

Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus McGrath summed up the situation when he said children could not afford to wait for the construction of a “Rolls Royce” footpath when something narrower would be better than nothing at all on the side of a busy main road in Passage West.

He made his comments at a meeting of the Carrigaline Municipal District Council after the issue was raised by Independent councillor Marcia D’Alton.

She urged council engineers to provide “safer active travel options” to Star of the Sea and St Peter’s schools in Passage West, including “providing continuous footpath on the ‘back road’, filling the two gaps where there is currently no footpath”.

Councillor Marcia D’Alton: ‘Any footpath is better than no footpath.’ Picture: Denis Minihane

Ms D’Alton added that the county council should also provide bicycle parking at a green roadside space between the two schools.

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Council engineers said they would look at what could be done, but pointed out that the back road is very narrow.

All they could do under the circumstances, without costly land acquisition, was to build a narrow footpath.

Therefore, they maintained, the NTA might not fund this because it would not be 1.8m or wider, which is the requirement laid down, as recommended by the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets, for safety.

Ms D’Alton maintained that 0.5 or 0.8 of a metre wide would help safety.

“Any footpath is better than no footpath at all on the side of a very busy road,” she said.

It is a ‘must’ that pupils are protected, Mr McGrath said.

“I understand the NTA insists on a standard, but this [Ms D’Alton’s suggestion] will dramatically improve the safety situation, rather than holding out for a Rolls Royce solution.

“They just need a footpath to keep them safe,” Mr McGrath said.

After some debate, it was decided that the municipal district council would write to the NTA in the hope of seeking an amicable solution.