Hill Street blues at rush hour in Dundalk

Dundalk councillor Maria Doyle asked at the Dundalk Municipal District March meeting, if a  buildup of traffic at the junction of Dublin Street/Hill Street trying to turn right onto Stapleton Place in Dundalk at rush hour might be alleviated, if the pedestrian lights at Hill Street stayed red for longer for traffic.

The meeting heard from Cllr Doyle that at present during rush hour in Dundalk, traffic turning right on the Stapleton Place could only do so when the pedestrian lights turned red for traffic, as there is no filter light for traffic at the junction.

This was resulting in a large back up of traffic during rush hour, the meeting was told. Cllr Doyle asked therefore if it was possible to have the time taken for the pedestrian light to turn red for traffic shortened, i.e. traffic could turn right onto Stapleton Place and pedestrians could cross Hill Street for a longer period of time.

In response, senior engineer Mark Johnston told the meeting that the traffic light cycle at the junction, which is about 30 seconds, is a reasonable amount of time for the cycle and mentioned that 90 seconds is the maximum. He added however that they would look at the traffic lights at the junction to see what could be done to alleviate the problem.