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…
Transport M50/N11 Archives - Councillor Derek Mitchell
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…
Councillors did not want to ‘postpone’ the N11 study as the Green Party wanted at Mondays Council meeting, The problem is urgent and the study has already been redirected in 2019 to study public transport more. The Council’s Transport Committee will, next Monday, hear from the Study chiefs about the new objectives. As Chair of this, I was very keen to get this presentation and asked for it. I gather they will also check whether an interim bus lane could work. I will be asking for this presentation to be…
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….
I will be voting against any further rezoning in Greystones or Kilcoole in the next Development Plan. They are building everywhere but the road and transport improvements have not happened. In 2015 I proposed, at a Council meeting on the Development Plan, that this expansion should be dependent on the N11 and Public Transport being improved. This was heavily defeated and only Cllr. Grainne McLoughlin (FG) of the 6 Local Councillors supported this. The transport chaos that is happening is a direct result. Most Councillors don’t seem to understand the…
Short Term Proposals: Trains & DART Ensure all DARTs at peak hour services are increased to 8 cars. Complete Jacobs Engineering study on more DARTs to Greystones and indicate how a 20 minute DART service to Greystones can be introduced. Park an extra DART in Greystones overnight to facilitate the morning rush hour. Run 1 extra diesel service south of Greystones at the peak hour as per Iarnrod Eireann’s Rail Capacity Study 2011 and provide additional off peak shuttle service. Ensure that all peak hour diesels have 8 cars as…
Transport Infrastructure Ireland has announced funding of €2m for the Kilmacanoge safety scheme which I hope can be completed in 2019. This will provide a separate slower lane, Southbound, for exiting and business traffic similar to the Lucan Road and should enable an increase in through traffic speed. They have also allocated €1m to the design process for the major improvement works from Bray North to Coyne’s Cross. This recently started with the public consultation session in the Glenview Hotel. ‘I have been lobbying for this for many years am…