Limerick bus lane plan ‘will lead to chaos and backlog’
LIMERICK Chamber has come out against the proposal to ban general traffic from O'Connell Street.
The Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (LSMATS), which has just been published envisages a two-way bus lane on Limerick's main thoroughfare, as well as the same measure at Sarsfield Bridge.
As well as this, the document - which is set to govern how Limerick's transport is delivered over the next 20 years - suggests there be bus priority on the other two river crossings - at Shannon Bridge and Thomond Bridge.
Donal Cantillon, the president of the Chamber, which is the biggest business representative group in the region predicted a two-way bus lane will lead to "chaos and backlog", similar to the quays in Dublin which are often congested.
"The street is something to be enjoyed by the citizens and by putting buses through it, it's going to hinder the enjoyment of the city and the attraction of people to come back in," he said.
Limerick Chamber wants to see a full feasibility study of traffic management and flow before anything is decided.
"It may be more opportune to put buses on the likes of Henry Street/William Street and Parnell Street as opposed to putting it through the main thoroughfare," Mr Cantillon said.
Due to the works in O'Connell Street, there's been only one lane of traffic for the last two years.
Work has paused on the revitalisation project for Christmas, and two lanes of traffic have opened back up again.
While acknowledging the factor of the festive season, Mr Cantillon said footfall has gone up - and at peak times in the morning, traffic is moving more freely, particularly from Ennis Road and Corbally.
Cllr Sarah Kiely, a critic of the bus lane plan added: "The city centre traders have endured enough disruption to last a lifetime. The proposal to have a two-way bus lane is pie in the sky as far as I am concerned. Tell the National Transport Authority (NTA) to keep their funding if a two-way bus lane is conditional on it."
One project left out of LSMATS was the second phase of the Northern Distributor Road, something which has enjoyed support from the business community, with congestion also an issue in Castletroy and Plassey where many multi-nationals are located. It's been established the project was left out at the behest of Transport Minister Eamon Ryan.
Local Fine Gael TD Kieran O'Donnell, who chairs the Oireachtas transport committee has heavily criticised his government colleague for its omission.
"Minister Ryan's intervention [...] is unparalleled, where the minister goes against the professional advice of the NTA and directly interferes with the work of this designated State body charged with the development of transport infrastructure plans using their professional skills to do so," he said.
He added: "Anyone who uses the approach roads into Mackey Roundabout knows the very serious traffic congestion here where there is a very large back-up of traffic at certain times of the day."
However, Green Party councillor Saša Novak, who chairs the transport committee on Limerick's local authority welcomed the final version of LSMATS.
"The increased focus on sustainable modes is very positive. For the first time ever, we are seeing transport planning integrated with land use planning. This means focus on the existing footprint of the city and bringing major development back to the city," she said.
She called for the fast-tracking of the proposed new stations in Moyross and Ballysimon, as well as other public transport measures.
“It’s all about implementation now,” she concluded.