A furious councillor Rena Donaghey told officials "there's been more accidents there than enough" when she learned that the a new footbridge at Cockhill would not be in place before the end of this year.
Council engineer Donal Walker confirmed that Buncrana Town Council, as developer of the Dun na nIarlai estate at the bottom of Clonbeg, had paid €40,000 to subsidise a footbridge at the dangerous crossing. However, he pointed out: “Because of a delay
caused by revised procedures from the Department, we are unlikely to have it completed within the 2007/2008 timeframe. We have to move it to 2008/2009.”
Colr Donaghey replied: “It is ridiculous that it’s not done yet, it’s so dangerous.”
The need for a footbridge is just one part of the overall safety measures which are urgently needed at Cockhill bridge, Colr Donaghey continued.
“The footpath is nearly as important as the bridge, it’s extremely dangerous coming down around that corner at bottom of Clonbeg. I know we have to redesign that junction as well. It’s always been dangerous, there’s been more accidents there than enough.”
Council engineers first reported the need to replace the bridge in Cockhill more than 25 years ago. At the time, they told council members that the bridge was no longer adequate to support the volume of traffic using it.
The issue came to the fore again last summer, when 40 new council houses were allocated in the area and large numbers of young children had to cross the bridge to get to and from primary school.
As an interim measure, it was agreed to move existing road signs, which are currently just after the bridge, on the Illies side, further down on the Buncrana side of the bridge in order to provide advance warning for motorists.
The full article contains 310 words and appears in Journal Friday newspaper.
