Traffic lights reverse the best laid plans for town

FOR two years Ballincollig has been a building site with traffic restrictions as the so-called green route progresses very slowly from east to west.

Now that it’s nearing completion local people are surely admiring the new pathways, cycle and bus lanes. It looks very pretty.

But driving through the town is a different story. The purpose of the green route is to give priority to alternative modes of transport by providing bus corridors, cycle lanes and improving pedestrian facilities so, by definition, motorists shouldn’t be surprised if travelling through the town takes longer.

Problem is the traffic is worse than it was prior to the bypass opening. The main issue is the excessive number of traffic lights especially in areas where the road is too narrow for a bus or cycle lane lanes. So we have bus and cycle lanes in the suburbs where there is no traffic problem only suddenly to end in the town centre which is congested because of traffic lights.

Unfortunately the green route also extended half way down the Carrigrohane Road. Here they built a footpath wide enough for a bus. This is intended to be a pedestrian/cycle path, but as it’s built with concrete, it’s not easy to mark out lanes. There is now a cycle/pedestrian symbol drawn in the centre of the path, giving no indication what side its many users should take. The result is cyclists continue to use the road, now very narrow because of the wide footpath, with a speed limit of 100km/h. Surely an accident waiting to happen.

Richard Leahy

Daffodil Fields

Poulavone

Ballincollig

Co Cork