Waterford roads purposefully being narrowed at ‘inconvenience’ to motorists

Waterford roads are purposefully being narrowed at an “inconvenience” to motorists, a council official has admitted.

The issue of narrowed junctions and roads was raised by Sinn Féin councillor Pat Fitzgerald at the November plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Cllr Fitzgerald said that the council are raising footpaths on either side of redeveloped junctions and making them “very, very narrow”.

He continued: “It’s okay if you’re talking about two Ford Fiestas, but when you’re talking about two trucks or two buses, one has to wait for one to exit and there’s a whole line of traffic blocked up behind it.

“These junctions are now appearing all over the county and what were once easy junctions are now being closed up.” “Why make it difficult for motorists if it’s unnecessary?”, he added.

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In response to Cllr Fitzgerald, Director of Services Gabriel Hynes said that he was glad the issue was raised because it is an issue that keeps coming up around the country.

Mr Hynes continued: “I suppose what we’re following is national standards - the design manual for urban roads and streets.

“They’re urban roads and I suppose the priority is now being given to safety. If you narrow the carriageway, before we had 7 metre carriageways.

“If you’re in a car, you get a concept that if the road is open to you, you drive faster. If you narrow that carriageway into 6 metres, you’re going to drive slow, because you’re in a space that’s more restricted.”

He also outlined how this policy is being implemented at junctions and what the roads department’s intentions are there.

“If you’re taking a junction, going around a corner, in the past we had some lovely sweeping curbs that allowed you to come off the main carriageway at speed.

“That has changed now - the curbs have completely tightened up, so for cars, you’re going to have to slow down on the main open road, and in particular, if you traverse a junction.

“And that’s very, very important, because at the junction you have cyclists and pedestrians crossing.

“Giving priority to pedestrians is an inconvenience to motor cars and it is an inconvenience for large heavy vehicles, but that is national policy and it’s an appropriate policy.”

Mr Hynes told councillors that they are continuously asking for traffic calming measures at district meetings.

He continued: “The most traffic calming measures are the tighter junctions and the narrower carriageways.

“You see the schemes that we’re implementing around the county, you’ll see all the junctions being tightened up and you’ll see carriageways being narrowed.

“If you’ve two large buses or two large combines coming together, which is very rare, one is going to have to stop and pull in to let the other one pass.

“The main reason for all that is to protect the vulnerable road user, the pedestrian and cyclists.”

Mr Hynes concluded by recognising the concerns of councillors when it comes to some of the council’s Active Travel schemes.

However, he said that these are all being designed to reduce the speed of cars and reduce fatalities.