Street Lighting At Pedestrian Crossings Is ‘Atrocious’ Says Mayor

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The pedestrian crossing at High Street.

THE Mayor of Tralee said the level of lighting at some pedestrian crossings in Tralee is atrocious and needs urgent attention.

Cllr Terry O’Brien had a request before the Tralee Municipal District meeting on Monday that the Council review all pedestrian crossings and inspect the quality of lighting on them.

In reply, the Council said replacement poles and lights have been ordered for two of the oldest pedestrian crossings in Tralee.

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However, these are quite costly and it is planned to assess all the other pedestrian crossings in 2017. At present there are 19 pelican crossings and 25 zebra crossings in the town and the preliminary estimate to upgrade all of these is in the region of €650,000.

Mayor O’Brien said in some cases, the yellow lights flashing act as a distraction for drivers, especially where there is poor street lighting.

He said there is a need for an audit of pedestrian crossings in town as the light on them is not sufficient.

Speaking on Radio Kerry’s ‘Talkabout programme’ on Tuesday, he said drivers and pedestrians also need to be more aware of each other at the crossings.

He said some pedestrians make sudden sharp turns on to the crossings and drivers are taken by surprise.

At the meeting, Mayor O’Brien also brought up the issue of street lighting. He said the lights on the Killeen Road were out for 11 days over Christmas, despite repeated calls to the suppliers, Airtricity, about the issue.

“There was ten lights out on a main artery of the town in a residential area for 11 days. It’s not good enough,” said the Mayor.

The tender for supplying the street lighting is going out early this year and Mayor O’Brien feels the council is being taken for granted by the current suppliers.