N11 Upgrade Hits Another Traffic Jam

Glen Of The Downs. Pic: Skycam

atest press release from Cllr Derek Mitchell, issued on Thursday, February 2nd 2023…

Minister for Transport Eatmon Ryan has postponed work on the N11 upgrade for 2022 and 2023.

This would have provided a proper priority for buses, doubling the public transport mode share from Arklow and other Wicklow places.

An interim bus-only priority scheme was then pursued expecting it just needed painting white lines on the road. This has been worked on by consultants and even a partial bus lane is now projected to cost €112m!

Also the interim plan will hinder the proper separation of crossing traffic, buses, cycles and cars from through N11 traffic on the Bray by-pass section of the road.

Wicklow County Council engineers now consider that the interim bus scheme is no longer cost effective or viable and that the overall scheme (including bus priority measures) from Loughlinstown to the Glenview should be progressed.

Thousands of houses are being built in Greystones, Newtown, Wicklow Town and Park n’ Ride sites. Neither buses nor cars will be able to get around Bray soon – the M50 traffic jams will stretch back to Tallaght and Bray will be clogged with traffic.

“The present studies started after Minister Simon Harris and I met Leo Varadkar, then Minister for Transport in 2014” says Cllr Derek Mitchell (FG), “and €5m has been spent with no result. I am calling for funding for this design to be reinstated immediately.”

Cover pic: Tony Brierton