Cllr Derek Mitchell has asked Dublin City Council not to halve the speed of Wicklow Buses in the City Centre as is proposed. The journey time of buses to the city centre is already too long and proposals to slow them to 30 kph on the main roads would be worse. Cllr Mitchell, who is Chair of the Wicklow Transport Committee, has written to Dublin Council asking that the route of the 84X, 133, Wexford bus and Aircoach to the airport & City Centre should not be reduced to 30…
Buses should have priority on Dublin Streets. Greater priority needs to be given to buses from outer suburbs on city centre streets. The recently published Dublin Mobility Plan provides increased space on City Centre Streets for cycling and walking, especially around College Green. The significant population expansion of the Greater Dublin Area has mostly taken place in further out suburbs as the centre has not expanded much. Walking & cycling are only suitable for commuting short distances. The LUAS which has taken up much road space in Central Dublin, including…
On Thursday Irish Rail has gone to tender to do the detail design of the DART expansion on the Coastal line from Drogheda to Greystones. For the first time this includes ‘increases to the capacity of the Bray to Greystones section’ . ‘I am delighted that this is now included in the DART upgrade plan. Originally this was not included and I wrote a paper, launched by Minister Simon Harris, on how it could be done in 2018 by partially double tracking it’. The tender is to design the track,…
You can download the Rail and Commuter Transport Plan for East Wicklow by clicking on the link below:
Transport Infrastructure Ireland are managing the study of the N11 enhancements and gave a presentation to the Council’s Transport Committee. Cllr. Derek Mitchell, Chairman of the committee said ‘I am disappointed that the study has not been redirected to study rail enhancements to reduce car usage. They are studying some bus lane issues but the rail line is virtually empty at rush hour. A proper study of these alternatives should show that the scale of N11 enhancement could be much reduced if more people used the bus & train. Providing…
I welcome the announcement that Public Transport improvements, including Bus Priority and Park n’ Ride are being considered. This will include an examination of interim options and hopefully will reduce the scale of the N11 works. This is being done by The National Transport Authority with the Council. Myself and many Councillors have been pushing for this to be done but I was not aware it was underway. It does not mention the rail line which is virtually empty at rush hour with the least number of trains of any…
Fianna Fail also opposed making development dependent on better transport. The Green Party opposed ‘improving the South East rail line’ in the Regional Planning Guidelines. I asked the Minister for Environment to override this and he has now altered the wording to ‘improve’ rail. Now the Green leader Eamonn Ryan says he will shelve upgrade plans for the N11. In April 2015 I proposed that Rezoning in Wicklow should not take place unless Public Transport and the N11 had been improved. The Green Party & Fianna Fail voted against that…
The Green Party proposal to cancel the N11 upgrade and convert 1 lane to a Bus Lane will cause total chaos in Wicklow. Speaking to Eamonn Ryan, Leader of the Green Party, on East Coast Radio I was surprised to hear that he wants to reduce the car lanes on the already jammed N11. It is essential that the bus lane is EXTRA to the existing 2 lanes South of Kilmacanoge and there must be many Express Buses. North of Kilmacanoge there may well need to be 3 car lanes….
The Minister for Planning & Local Government has instructed the Eastern & Midland Regional Authority to amend its recently adopted Regional Plan to 2031 on transport matters. I welcome this direction as the changes to the Plan make it more likely that the DART as far South as Greystones will be improved and that the LUAS to Bray, Finglas, Lucan & Poolbeg will be properly planned & designed. I wrote to the Minister some months ago seeking this change. I voted against the changes which were proposed to the Transport Strategy but…
The internal traffic & parking is getting very congested in Greystones. The next Development plan review is due to be started soon and I am keen that the traffic issues & solutions are studied before the Plan is made as it is long overdue. I put in a motion at the last meeting and Council officials have now agreed to get a study done
© 2020 Councillor Derek Mitchell.
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