Offaly's first protection junction located in Tullamore

Offaly County Council has unveiled its first protection junction in Tullamore to promote additional road safety features for all road users.

A protected junction is a road junction where pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles are separated from each other as they move through the junction. The aim of this active travel initiative is to make the junction safer for all road users, particularly for those on bicycles, and to encourage people to choose to walk, wheel, or cycle to work, school or for their everyday journeys, when possible.

Offaly’s first protected junction is located at Collins Lane, Tullamore (R443-5), at the junction with Ballin Rí and the road serving the Educate Together National School, the Hawthorns and Norbury Woods.

A protected junction provides numerous benefits to all users, including:

A safer way for all road users to travel through the junction,

Improved crossings for pedestrians which are separated from the cycle crossings,

Segregated cycle ways for cyclists, protected by concrete islands and kerbs,

Dedicated cycle signals and advance starts provided for cyclists.

Instead of bicycles mixing with traffic, and waiting in the middle of the junction to make a right-hand turn, the new design provides a safer option. Pedestrian, cyclist, and vehicle movements will all be controlled by traffic signals, each road user shall wait for the green light and move forward when it is safe to do so. Left turning vehicles must take care and yield to cyclists who are travelling straight through the junction.

In addition to the physical kerb and concrete islands separation, Offaly County Council will also pilot flashing amber road studs at the cycle crossing point. Rory Moore, Senior Executive Engineer with Offaly County Council for Active Travel, outlined that: “These amber road studs will flash while traffic on the opposing arms have a green light and will alert left and right turning vehicles that they need to yield to cyclists crossing the junction. An informational video, which is available to view on Offaly County Council’s website, offaly.ie, and social media channels, provides additional explanation how to use on this new type of junction.”

This strategic scheme has been made possible through funding secured from the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority under their Active Travel Investment Programme. This scheme forms parts of a wider active travel programme to make Tullamore a more sustainable town and Offaly a more sustainable county.