Concern raised over lack of third access road at Derry City Cemetery
'Creggan residents are repeatedly blocked into their homes by cars going in and out of the Cemetery's Creggan gate'
The lack of a third vehicular access road will result in ongoing 'traffic chaos' at Derry's city cemetery.
The issue was raised ahead of this Sunday's annual Blessing of the Graves by a concerned Creggan resident.
The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, highlighted the high volumes of traffic at the city cemetery’s Creggan entrance where huge numbers of people are expected to attend the service.
“As you can imagine, residents are absolutely dreading this coming Sunday,” the resident said. “Derry City and Strabane District Council is already warning people to expect ‘increased traffic and congestion’ around the cemetery. This is a nightmare for us.”
The Creggan resident went on to query the status of the proposed new access/egress road into the city cemetery off the Southway carriageway, which they said was supposed to “improve the traffic build-up at the Creggan gate and the ensuing problems it brings”.
“As far as we were aware, Derry City and Strabane District Council received planning permission for this road in April 2013 and councillors approved it in April 2021,” they said.
“However, no work has commenced on this road and there has been no mention of it since. Meanwhile residents in Creggan are repeatedly blocked into their homes by cars going in and out of the Creggan gate.”
Asked for an update on the status of the proposed new access road, spokesperson for Derry City and Strabane District Council said: “The installation of the proposed new entrance to the city cemetery off Southway was investigated previously as part of a contract to extend the cemetery.
“However, the proposed entrance works did not go ahead at that time pending a wider review of traffic concerns that had been raised with the Department for infrastructure - Roads.”
The “wider review of traffic concerns” originated at the January 2022 meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council during which Sinn Fein councillor Patricia Logue raised “safety concerns” regarding the access road.
At the time Cllr Logue said she wanted Council to undertake more work in terms of the road safety concerns of residents and users.
Earlier this week, The Derry News sought an update from the Department for Infrastructure on whether a full traffic impact assessment of the roads in and around the proposed new entrance of the city cemetery at Southway in Derry had been carried out.
We asked when it had been completed; what were the results; and if construction of the road could now go ahead?
At the time of going to print, no comment had been received from the Department.