Major step in traffic system for Nenagh

The first major step in a bid to introduce a new one-way traffic system in Nenagh town centre is expected to be taken this summer with the commencement of significant infrastructural works at the Mitchel Street/Emmet Place junction.
Details of the works were outlined by the Manager of the Nenagh Municipal District, Marcus O' Connor, to elected members of the district at their February meeting last Thursday.
The works will involve the demolition of a number of existing building acquired by Tipperary County Council in order to upgrade and widen the junction entry into Emmet Place.
The project will also see a new town centre car park with 18 spaces being developed in the locality and the installation of new public lighting.
Mr O' Connor said the development was being carried out under Part 8 of the Planning and Development Regulations. Two submissions had been received after the plan was advertised and issues raised in these submissions were now being addressed.
One submission from the Department of Culture Heritage relates to a requirement to preserve bat and swift life in the area, if such species exist in the locality.
The other related to concerns about the impact on a building on Mitchel Street following adjacent demolition works. Meetings with the local couple who made the submission had been very cordial and they had no objections in principle to the planned works.
Mr O' Connor said it was hoped to start works on the junction once the surveys on the swifts and bats were completed in the summer. "We would hope to start in June or July this year."
The council planned to start by demolising the derelict buildings it had acquired. It was expected the car park would be completed this year. Mr O' Connor said he would like to have substantive works done by November in time for the Christmas shopping season.
He said the project, while laudable in its own right, was part of a broader traffic management plan for the town centre.
Councillor John Carroll said the planned work at the junction was a very desirable project. It would be good for the town. It would enhance local business and lead to an improved urban amenity for the citizens of the town.
Councillor Hughie McGrath said: "We have a town that is going really, really well, and you only appreciate this when you go to other towns where people say Nenagh is going great.
"But we want to be an even better town. We need to tackle the backland spaces within the town and the streets and we need to take a look at the shape of our town."
Councillor McGrath said the one great benefit of introducing a one-way traffic flow system in the centre would be that it would cut out the necessity for traffic lights at the Market Cross. He felt the new system would allow traffic to flow more smoothly.
He asked that spaces in the new car park at Emmet Place be made larger than the spaces in existing public car parks in the town centre.