City council defends ‘disastrous’ traffic system
meeting is being arranged with officials of the Department of Transport following a claim that they were not fully informed about the new system, which came into operation yesterday.
There is also a question mark over whether the new signs, many of which are in Irish only, comply with the law governing uniformity in signposting, which could lead to their removal.
A spokesperson for the department said they were examining the legal aspects of the new signposting.
A council spokesperson said they were happy with the new system, which had brought about a significant 50% reduction in traffic.
However, Fine Gael transport spokesperson Dennis Naughten described the new system as a disaster.
“While I fully support any attempt to tackle the city’s horrendous traffic problem, the introduction of the new traffic initiative was badly handled.
“It would have been far better to bring in the scheme at the beginning of the summer holidays rather than one week before the school traffic is back on the road. While they [the road signs] were certainly innovative and eye-catching, they were difficult to read and not helped by the absence of English language directions.”
AA spokesman Conor Faughnan said the new system went reasonably well in its main aim of getting traffic to avoid the capital’s main street, O’Connell Street, where major work is taking place on a new Plaza and the Millennium Spire. He said the signs were a completely separate matter and would do more good than harm.
Mr Faughnan, who was a member of the Dublin City Council traffic committee which drew up the plans for the new system, said the new signposting was purely a guide and did not restrict access. He said the main test would come when schools reopened after the holidays, but he believed people would quickly become accustomed to the new signs.
He expressed the hope that the row between the department and the council would be resolved without recourse to a legal challenge.
The scheme, designed to be an answer to Dublin’s crippling traffic problems, came into force yesterday and is intended to cut the number of cars on the capital’s main street, O’Connell Street by 70%.
Motorists are being prevented from using the city centre as a route from one side of the capital to another, with 500 signs diverting them onto two orbital routes.
Pat Delaney, director of the Small Firms Association, said: “I do not think there is any doubt that something has to be done with the management of the traffic.
“The traffic gridlock is now costing over a billion euro a year.”
But he added: “There seems to be a lot of difficulty for citizens of the city in understanding exactly what is going on and that is not a good starting point - particularly as schools are re-opening and traffic gridlock will get worse.”
In the meantime, police will be in position at key routes to explain the new system to confused drivers. These may include non-nationals, as many of the signs point, in Irish only, to An Lár (the city centre).
