EAST WALL Traffic Matters – April 2019

As you know over the past five years, I have repeatedly highlighted to Dublin City Council officials and other Councillors of the need for an effective traffic management plan for East Wall. Indeed, the Public Meeting I organised in February focused, almost exclusively, on the issue of parking and traffic management. This morning’s meeting came about as a result of a motion I put forward in February along with colleagues which was unanimously agreed that:

“following on from the recent JPC Policing Matters Public Meeting in East Wall, agrees to formally request Helen Smironva and the Traffic Engineers involved with the Neighbourhood Traffic Scheme project meet with representative group of residents from East Wall to discuss the ongoing traffic management issues in East Wall. Traffic and Parking issues dominated this policing meeting which highlighted the severity of the situation and of the need for Dublin City Council to act in preparing for a Traffic Management Plan for East Wall.”
(North Inner City Area Committee meeting, February 2019).

I can report that as a result of this morning’s meeting, the City Council will prioritise the longer term management of traffic and parking in East Wall. This will be undertaken through the form a Neighbourhood Traffic Scheme that the new Council and Councillors elected on May 24th next will have a deciding voice over.

This morning’s meeting also agreed on a number of shorter-term, more immediate measures to counteract rat-running on local roads, tackling illegal parking on street corners and bends as well as providing greater accessibility for East Wallers across the district.

I hope this information is of assistance to you. However, if you have any questions or queries arising from the details provided above, please come back to me.

Measures agreed at this morning’s meeting in Civic Offices on Sean McDermott Street to improve the management of traffic across East Wall and to counteract the issues of rat-running and illegal parking:

1. The City Council will install Double Yellow Lines at the stretch of Shelmalier Road linking up with Church Road, parallel to the LIDL Car-park.
2. No Parking signs and new build-outs to be installed outside Facebook offices on East Road, meaning that this section will be a clear-way all day.
3. New Double Yellow Lines to be installed on East Road on the Hireco Park side of the street down from the Caledon Road junction.
4. The City Council is securing the ownership details of the vacant site at the top of Shelmalier Road where cars park with a view to developing a ‘Pop-Up’ Park similar to that on North King Street at the corner with Church Street in Dublin 7.
5. Dublin City Council will purchase planters to be located at corners where illegal parking is taking place.
6. The Council’s Parking Enforcement Section along with the Divisional Garda Traffic Corp will put in place a joint enforcement initiative over a two week period, starting next week along East Road between Church Road and Church Street East.
7. The Parking Enforcement Section will undertake an initiative targeting vehicles illegally parked at or on street corners throughout the next fortnight.
8. The Transportation Department will examine the feasibility of installing a new build-out along Seaview Avenue near the junction with Crescent Gardens to counteract rat-running.
9. Parking Enforcement will also target vehicles parked too close to the mini-roundabouts on West Road as safety concerns have been raised.

These works, initiatives and measures will be implemented throughout the next month.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR BETTER TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN EAST WALL?
Everyone agrees that a targeted East Wall Traffic Plan is needed but there is uncertainty over how best to deliver such an initiative. My view is two-fold:

• First, we measure the success or failure of the shorter-term measures agreed this morning.
• Secondly, as part of the Neighbourhood Traffic Scheme initiative, we bring together East Wallers to agree on the parameters of dedicated Traffic Plan for the area.

We need to ensure that proposals put forward on one street or a number of streets don’t then cause further problems for other streets.

If re-elected on May 24th next, I will work with East Wallers and Council officials to agree the bones of and then flesh out that Traffic Plan for East Wall. A Traffic Plan that can commandeer the support of all East Wallers.