6th May 2012
The long awaited footbridge for Termonfeckin is to receive a blessing by the local parish priest Fr. Aidan Murphy and the Rev. Michael Graham at an ecumenical service on Saturday 12th May 2012 at 12 noon. Local County Councillor and Chairman of Louth County Council, Oliver Tully, will then perform the official opening ceremony of the footbridge.
Louth County Council funded the footbridge, Traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and all associated works from the development levies fund they received. The work was carried out by McAvoy Consctuction, while the main structure for the footbridge was assembled and shipped from a firm in Huddersfield that specialise in this type of engineering structure.
The footbridge is only one of a number of safety measures that Councillor Tully succeeded in having installed at this notoriously dangerous junction at the Ballywater Bridge in Termonfeckin. Cllr Oliver Tully, who has been persistently lobbying the council for years for these road safety measures, stated that these measures also include a new system of motion sensitive traffic lights that allows maximum flow of through traffic on the main Drogheda Road incorporating a pedestrian crossing on the Baltray and Drogheda Road and the pedestrian footbridge to the East of the existing historical stone bridge. This now leaves the junction and the existing narrow stone arched bridge safer for the children who had to use this bridge when going to and coming from the nearby national school. The junction is blind for motorists when coming from the Baltray road where the local primary school is located. This has been associated with the cause of many accidents at this extremely dangerous junction in the past. These measures form part of the road safety strategy for the county and has increased safety at what had become one of the biggest accident black spots in South Louth, the Baltray Road junction at the bridge in Termonfeckin.
Cllr. Tully, since his election in 1991, has consistently proposed safety measures at this accident black spot. The people of Termonfeckin and children attending the local national school have had to cope for years with the ever increasing volume of traffic at this dangerous junction. Councillor Tully, the people of Termonfeckin and the surrounding area are delighted that monies were made available to carry out these essential works before the ‘Celtic Tiger’ stopped roaring. The entire project has come in for praise from several quarters and has to be acclaimed as one of the finest road safety measures ever installed by Louth County Council.
