Richhill safety fear over village traffic increase
Richhill Traffic Problems. INPT35-206.
RESIDENTS of Richhill are worried that the massive increase of traffic through the village - caused by the diversion of Portadown-Armagh traffic - could create major dangers next week as schools re-open after the summer holidays.
They are so concerned that they have asked the PSNI to keep a careful watch on the village as children head off to school in the mornings and return in the afternoon.
Local Assembly member William Irwin (Armagh and Newry) has asked the police “to do the needful just for the one week, as the diversion will be ended next weekend”, and he is backed by the Richhill website committee and by the village’s active improvements committee.
Said Mr Irwin, “The amount of traffic through Richhill is hectic at the moment, with road works on-going on the main Portadown-Armagh Road. The traffic is diverted from the Stonebridge roundabout via the Legacorry Road, New Line and then via The Square and Corcreevy Road. But about half of it is turning into the village centre via the Tandragee Road and onto Main Street - flying down the hill - and creating a real hazard. They’re doing this to avoid the road bumps on New Line.”
David Kinnin, who organises the facebook site, said that children from the Hardy Memorial use both entrances - at New Line and the Main Street - and would be subjected to added dangers for the overlapping ‘diversion’ week. “With Primary One children starting school, the timing couldn’t be worse,” he said. “We appeal to the police to keep a careful eye on the village for this week especially. The dangers are real.”
Alan Turtle, chairman of the improvements committee, added that several buses left the village in the mornings and returned in the afternoons, to transport secondary and grammar school children to and from places like Portadown, Armagh and Markethill, “and with the volume of traffic increased several times over, there is great apprehension in the village.”
Mr Irwin said, “I will speak to the police in the meantime. The diversion is supposed to be by New Line, but it is being abused by motorists zipping through the Main Street, and that is exacerbating things. It’s for one week only, with the work on the main Portadown-Armagh road due to end, so it’s a one-off. The safety of the children is at stake.”
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Weather for Portadown
Sunday 26 May 2013
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