Council rejects calls for new yellow box junction on busy road in Clare town

A senior official at Clare County Council has poured cold water on proposals to install a new yellow box junction in Shannon town.

At the March meeting of Shannon Municipal District, Cllr David Griffin put forward a motion calling on the local authority to "look at a junction box or other appropriate traffic management solution at the intersection between Dún Áras and Cluain Alainn, Hurlers Cross and the main road to aid residents in entering and exiting the estate".

In a written reply, which was circulated at the meeting, Senior Executive Engineer, Tom Mellett said he was not in favour of the proposal.

"A yellow box junction is used to discourage vehicles from stopping at a crossroads and so preventing through traffic from the prioritised leg of the junction. The proximity of a controlled pedestrian crossing also complicates the introduction at this location," he wrote.

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Mr Mellett said yellow boxes are generally not used where a large proportion of movements are right turns.

"An assessment of this location has not shown queues of traffic from the Ballycasey roundabout and so the provision of a yellow box would not have an effect here. The inbound traffic lane also features two lanes, a through lane and a deceleration
(left-turn) lane," he stated.

The Senior Executive Engineer added: "Introducing a yellow box may result in vehicles attempting to undercut on the inside creating potential conflicts with vehicles emerging from the Hurlers Cross Road."

In  his reply, Mr Mellett said he would "not recommend" this course of action and he confirmed the local authority is exploring alternative Traffic Calming measures for the location and that the line markings will be upgraded in the meantime.