TRAFFIC DIVERSIONS will be introduced on Salt House Lane in Ennis when works on the second phase of public realm project in the county town commences.
“Major traffic congestion” has been caused on O’Connell Square due to the traffic from Upper Parnell Street and High Street, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) claimed. He called for traffic to be allowed exit from Parnell Street carpark via Salt House Lane to alleviate the issue. Presently, traffic flows from Salt House Lane down into the car park.
Acting senior executive engineer in the Ennis Municipal District, Paddy Tiernan explained, “The current routing provides important vehicular connectivity between Abbey Street, Abbey Street car park and the Harvey’s Quay and Wood Quay area. Whilst a reversal of the current routing would relieve congestion at the Square it would also increase traffic volumes on Bank Place and Bindon Street”.
He added, “we wish to advise the upcoming public realm works will involve a number of traffic diversions and changes to routing through the town centre during the construction period. During this period, traffic flows will be reverse on Old Friary Lane to facilitate the construction works. Ennis MD will examine the effect of this on vehicular traffic once the reversal is implemented. It is our opinion it would be inappropriate to carry out a trail in advance of this project”.
Speaking at the September meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Daly commented, “A lot of people are now walking down towards Parnell Street and I’ve seen plenty of near-hits”. He accepted the connectivity from Parnell Street to Abbey Street was a factor. “People are worried about cars going up Parnell St and High Street and the bottleneck in the Square”.
Tiernan stated in response, “As part of the upcoming public realm there will be diversions to changes and routes, it is very likely the proposal you’ve had there will happen naturally”.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Ann Norton (IND) agreed, “it might happen naturally which could give some relief to retailers” to which Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) noted, “Public realm works will have an effect on that”.
