*Traffic on the Mill Rd, Ennis
“BOTTLENECK TRAFFIC” in the county town has prompted one local councillor to seek the development of a park and ride scheme on the outskirts of Ennis.
At this month’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) asked that the possibility of “purchasing or leasing land close by to the town of Ennis” be examined for use as a pilot scheme for a park and ride centre.
Such a move to acquire or develop a site would require a nice source of funding, senior executive officer Leonore O’Neill explained. She said the Ennis MD “will continue to explore the possibility of purchasing or leasing land for the provision of car parking”.
“It’s always funding which is the problem,” Cllr Daly lamented. A county councillor since 1999, he remarked, “I’ve never seen Ennis as bad in recent times with traffic, it’s bottleneck every day of the week”.
Ongoing works associated with public realm upgrades in the town centre have been attributed to the congestion experienced in parts of Ennis particularly the Mill Rd, Abbey St, Carmody St and the Parnell St car park.
He indicated that a site on the Tulla Rd is set to be zoned in the County Development Plan for a park and ride. “Park your car and a bus will pick you up. Funding is always the cry really, it’s something we should look at wherever we get the funding”.
Support was voiced by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG). “There are serious difficulties with mobility around the town. A lot of us have been involved for nearly twenty years to get a town bus into Ennis”.
Flynn maintained a park and ride was “crucial” for Ennis. “There are 15,000 vehicles a day coming in the Tulla Rd, half of them might consider parking up”. The father of four who works in the renewable energy sector flagged that if 500 to 600 cars were occupying a park and ride site that it “would reduce the poor air quality in the town centre”.
Active Travel could be a source of funding to progress the idea, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) suggested.
