Previous warnings from the former mayor, Cllr Joe Leddin, that traffic calming measures are badly needed for New Street, have now taken on greater impetus, following a serious car crash there recently.
“The residents of this old city street, between Punch’s on the Ballinacurra Road and Fennesseys Bar on the South Circular Road, have suffered enormously over the last few years with the growth in traffic volumes
and excessive parking in their locality – just recently disc parking was introduced in order to try and properly manage the parking problem,” said the councillor, who is a member of the city council’s Transportation and Roads Infrastructure Committee.
Pointing out that due to its location, the street is used daily as an access route between the Dock Road and the Childers Road, and also used by heavy goods vehicles, he said that motorists are also speeding along the street to get through the traffic lights at Punch’s.
“Recently, a motorist lost control and mounted the footpath, demolished a front boundary wall and glass porch of a resident’s house and damaged other parked cars on the street, and while it’s a miracle that nobody was injured in this incident. it is now high time for both traffic calming measures to be installed and greater monitoring to be carried out by the gardai of traffic flows on the street, before a more serious accident occurs”.
Cllr Leddin has alerted the traffic management department in City Hall and is awaiting a positive reaction to his proposals.
