Thurles Quarter-Mile Obstacle Course: Where Bollards Go To Die & Traffic Lights Go To Retire.
In a town famous for heritage, history and sturdy stonework, it is reassuring to see that the local Municipal District Council is doing its best to add a modern attraction; a quarter-mile stretch of road furniture carnage.
Above we have the full civic experience. Silver bollards, nobly installed to protect pedestrians, are flattened by vehicles, replaced lovingly back into the exact same spot, and then, in a plot twist visible from space, flattened again. One might call it maintenance. Others might call it a subscription service for bollards.
Meanwhile, two pedestrian crossings, at Cathedral Street and Parnell Street, have been non-functional for over six weeks after being struck by high sided vehicles. Six weeks is a long time in traffic-light years. By now, those lights are not just broken; they are on sabbatical. Perhaps they are taking time out to reflect on their career choices, or waiting for a council committee to confirm that pedestrians do, in fact, still exist in Thurles.
The road signs are putting in an equally spirited performance, (See above). Some are totally missing, (Kickham Street), some are pointing the wrong way, and others seem to have adopted a more philosophical approach to navigation: “Cork is that way… probably.” A driver looking for Cashel, Cork, the Horse and Jockey, or basic municipal competence may need not a map, but a medium.
All of this is squeezed into a stretch of roughly a quarter of a mile (402 metres); a compact showcase of avoidable repairs, repeat damage and public money being sent out to do laps. The council’s own roads services information says local authorities deal with road surface maintenance and road markings, while road signs are listed among roads and transport services provided and maintained by local authorities. The relevant Thurles Municipal District office also lists roads contact arrangements, including an out-of-hours roads number.
Which makes the current scene all the more impressive. It is not neglect in one location. It is neglect with choreography. Bollard down, bollard up, bollard down again. Crossing broken, still broken, somehow even more broken. Sign missing, sign twisted, sign auditioning for interpretive dance.
Perhaps there is a master plan. Perhaps the district is trialling a new “guess-your-own-junction” traffic system. Perhaps the bollards are part of a renewable metal initiative: install, destroy, invoice, repeat. Perhaps the non-working crossings are intended to encourage eye contact between pedestrians and motorists, in the same way cliff edges encourage balance.
But to the ordinary resident, pedestrian, driver, parent, visitor or ratepayer, it looks rather simpler: a dangerous, shabby and expensive mess being allowed to continue in plain sight.
Thurles deserves better than road safety by “shrug”. It deserves crossings that work, signs that point where they are meant to, and bollards that are not repeatedly sacrificed like shiny stainless-steel offerings to the gods of poor planning.
At this stage, the council should either fix the problem properly or install a tourist information plaque:
“Welcome to Thurles Municipal Money-Go-Round:
Please mind the bollards. They won’t be here long.”
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