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Cllr Cathal Foley
A LOCAL councillor said something has to be done about the traffic bottlenecks outside some Tralee schools during drop-off and collection times.
Sinn Féin Cllr. Cathal Foley had a motion before the meeting of Tralee Municipal District of Kerry County Council on Monday, that the Council carry out a traffic survey at all schools in Tralee town to see what measures are needed to alleviate bottlenecks.
Cllr Foley gave the example of the situation on the Caherslee and Bracker O’Regan roads outside Mercy Mounthawk Secondary School.
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He said the traffic bottleneck at the school in the morning is “absolutely ridiculous”, with cars parked on cycle lanes. Cllr Foley said students are being encouraged to cycle to school, but the lanes were blocked by vehicles and not clearly visible.
Labour Cllr Terry O’Brien agreed that there should be clearly defined drop-off and collection points but he said at the moment, motorists have nowhere else to go.
Cllr O’Brien said people need to drop off the kids and then leave immediately and not stay to “talk about the weather” with other parents.
In reply, Council Management said while schools in themselves generate significant volumes of traffic, their typical start and finish times largely coincide with daily peak traffic times which can result in congestion locally.
Kerry County Council’s Active Travel Co-Ordinator in conjunction with An Taisce Greens Schools Infrastructural Officer are currently engaging with Mounthawk, CBS Primary, Presentation Primary, Presentation Secondary and Moyderwell Primary and as part of this engagement, appropriate means of reducing car dependence and the suitability of programmes such as “Park and Stride” are being considered.
These initiatives have the potential to reduce traffic congestion in the immediate vicinity of participating schools.
