‘Common sense is not so common’ - Kelly slams traffic measures at St Nicholas Qtr in Dundalk

Dundalk councillor Sean Kelly, has hit out at traffic calming measures at the almost finished St Nicholas Quarter in Dundalk, which are forcing traffic coming from Linenhall Street onto Church Street, to veer across the central line on Church Street in order to complete the turn.

_{ABOVE: Dundalk councillor Sean Kelly}

At the Dundalk Municipal Council March meeting, councillors received an interim report commissioned by Louth County Council on the issues that Cllr Seán Kelly had been raising in relation to traffic flow and in particular heavy goods and buses turning left from Linenhall St onto Church St.

Cllr Kelly, along with other councillors, has been highlighting that the new measures are forcing traffic to come to a complete halt on both sides on Church Street which has been leading to "significant delay and frustration on the part of motorists, local businesses and residents alike", since the issue began and have been calling on the Council to address it.

Focusing on some of the points made in the report, Cllr Kelly said:

"The report states, 'HGVs turning south must cross the centre line into the opposing traffic lane to use the full extent of the carriageway to complete the manoeuvre. This movement of larger vehicles is accepted by Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets'.

"The report further states: 'Providing a layout which would contain large HGVs within the nearside traffic lane would require significantly more road space increasing traffic speeds and reducing the space available to the civic plaza which diminishes the objective of the scheme.’

"So what this report is effectively saying, let’s keep vehicles  veering into the opposing lane and causing serious safety concerns and let’s keep the traffic delays in both directions so that we save a few feet of footpath on the plaza."

"Where exactly is the common sense in that?," he added.

The report which was only released to councillors at the meeting, will be up for discussion at next month's meeting, members were told. Councillors were told that senior engineer, John O'Hagan would be available at the next meeting to answer  councillors' questions.

The meeting was also told that the local authority has undertaken to look at the issue again when the full project is completed.