Don't tell the good people of
Loughrea to go "one way". If you
do, they will chew you up and
spit you out. You could wind up
like black spots of chewing gum
on the pavement. Whatever
inspired him, didn't county
council engineer Martin Lavelle
bring a message from HQ in
Prospect Hill that it would be a
good idea to have a "one-way"
traffic system in the town of
Loughrea - it seems it could
provide more space for parking.
The town council is against it
and the business people in
Loughrea are against it. It seems
that even the Gárdaí were not
consulted.
Now, to be fair to Martin Lavelle,
it appears he did not put his full
county council weight behind the
idea. Councillor Bridie Willers
said it was more of "a
suggestion" from Mr Lavelle.
And a suggestion is all right ‹
until it takes on a life of its own.
But Martin Lavelle can be
thankful to the Gum Litter Task
Force that arrived in Eyre
Square on Monday morning.
They have started a campaign
asking people - for God's sake
‹ to stop spitting out chewing
gum on the streets and roadway.
It's bad enough to be eaten up in
Loughrea without being spat out
against the footpath. For a new
"one way" traffic system seems
to be about as popular as chewed
out chewing gum in Loughrea.
"It seems to me it might be
something for the future" says
Cllr Bridie Willers. "We should
leave it, at least until the new
road from Ballinasloe to Galway
is open. That may change traffic
altogether in east county
Galway." Well, certainly a major
new road alongside the newly
opened Loughrea by-pass would
seem to give everybody more
space in the town. That would
pave the way for a new future.
And we must hope that the
pavement will be better than in
Connemara.
Bad margarine
on good bread
Galway County Council has done
some fine repair jobs on roads in
Connemara lately.
Solid tarmac has been put to
work. Now it has been covered
with tar and chips. "Its like
putting margarine on fine
wholesome bread," says Rev
Anthony Previte, former Church
of Ireland Rector in Clifden.
Anthony has long since
condemned tar and chips jobs.
The tarmacadam is the right job,
he says, and it would be in
keeping with best international
practice. "You never see tar and
chips on motorways," Anthony
says. He says the tar and chips
are spoiling the good
tarmacadam road jobs. Now this
is not just a holy man with good
intentions.
The Previte family has built
roads across the world and
Anthony was involved with that
work before he became a
minister of the Church of
Ireland. But notwithstanding
the Rev Previte's misgivings,
isn't the tarmac surface too
slippery? "Yes, but there is a
compound rather than tar and
chips that should be used", says
Anthony Previte. "That would
give you a better surface and a
safe surface, too." So does
Galway County Council know
about this? Well, they do...and
their engineers agree that
asphalt is the best finish. But it
is more difficult to put down and
you might have to close roads
while you were doing the work.
Now it seems to me that these
problems could be managed. But
then asphalt is expensive.² "It
would be three times more
expensive", the council says.
And I'd say that's why we have
"margarine on wholesome
bread" on Connemara's roads.
And we needn't cogitate or chew
chewing gum for long to come to
that conclusion. But it's an old
story - the Prom takes
prominence now.
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Ecoflex and bog
roads
No margarine on the Prom - it's
more like mustard. The city
council has put down some sort
of new surface on the Prom and
its yellow in colour. Some
"smart alecs" are calling it "The
Yellow Brick Road". Its called
ecoflex - it must move flexibly
with you as you step along - or
something like that. Look at that
now. The bog persons of
Connemara can get their feet
stuck in melting tar and chips as
they chew their chewing gum.
But the smart people who walk
the Prom - they are a different
breed. They need a smart
surface...and they walk briskly
in the evening with their arms
swinging up to their shoulders
and their heads held back. If you
were on the bog all day you
wouldn't swing your hand above
your navel in the evening.
And
there isn't even a right bog road
to walk on, according to Cllr
Seosamh Ó Cuaig in Connemara.
He said that Minister Éamon Ó
Cuív has ditched his
Department's bog roads scheme
over the past two years...and the
Minister still seems to be
chewing over whether it will be
brought back. Let the Minister
spit out his chewing gum now,
Cllr Ó Cuaig said and reestablish
"The Old Bog Road"
scheme. But Éamon Ó Cuív is
not going to spend 25 years in
the Ministry of the Gaeltacht for
nothing and there is reason to
hope that he will bring in a New
Bog Road scheme. But that oul'
country scheme is a long way
from the Promenade and the
Yellow Brick Road. That's
serious.
Tread softly in
this place.
Cllr John Mulholland and his
colleagues in town are not happy
about the Prom despite its
flexibility. Who in the devil
thought up this scheme...and the
colouring scheme on the Prom?
The city councillors want the
work stopped now. Is there any
danger that this "Yellow Brick
Road" would escalate into
another Eyre Square job? Fear
springs eternal when the city
council starts digging streets.
Experience in Loughrea and
experience on the Promenade
should show that public officials
would need to walk carefully
when they bring their dreams to
the real world. For there is a
high risk of getting your feet
stuck in chewing gum on those
pavements, despite the best
efforts of the Gum Litter Task
Force.
And while the intentions might
be good - the road to hell is
paved with good intentions. For
people in Loughrea, people on
the Prom and people on the bogs
have their priorities and their
dreams too. And you have to
tread carefully when you
approach them.
Some poet, yeats, I think once
said something like this: "Tread
softly, because you tread upon
my dreams." And that applies
whether you are treading on tar
and chips, on two-way
streets...or on spat out chewing
gum.
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