Better traffic management needed to ease gridlock

The recent traffic problems in Athlone have had a serious impact on businesses, with one shop owner stating that the gridlock experienced over the last three weeks was the worst he had seen during 40 years of trading in the town. Sean Dunning of Dunning's Butchers on Connaught Street said traffic outside his premises had frequently been moving slower than walking pace in recent weeks, and this was having an "awful" impact on businesses in the street. "You'd often have the cars at a standstill between 8.30am and 10am on the weekday mornings. Last Friday the traffic didn't really ease all day. People just can't get in to Connaught Street, it's as simple as that. I've never seen anything like it. "Things were bad in Connaught Street before now, but this has just put the kibosh on it altogether," said Mr Dunning, whose shop has operated for the last four decades. He was one of several local traders who were contacted by this newspaper on Monday in relation to the traffic delays, which have been particularly evident in the west side of the town during weekday mornings and late afternoons. More than one of the traders stressed that the bypass upgrade works will be beneficial to Athlone in the long run, and that they didn't want it to appear that they were purposely complaining or making negative comments. However all of the businesses we contacted agreed that trade was suffering as a result of the delays. "The gridlock has been likened to the time before we had a bypass at all," said solicitor Mairin Stronge, who is chairperson of the Left Bank Traders' Association. "The impact on traders is harsh. People can't get around town and they're certainly not stopping to shop." Ms Stronge said the traffic situation would be on the agenda at a meeting of the traders association early next week, and a decision would be taken at that stage on whether or not formal representations would be made to the council on the matter. Commenting on behalf of Athlone Chamber of Commerce, John McGrath of MMKDA Engineers & Architects, said the chamber had been in contact with the council on several occasions in relation to the difficulties. He said the main problem was that traffic diversions put in place by the council were not being followed because motorists were - wrongly - avoiding the bypass altogether. He said this was largely due to "the manner in which the traffic arrangements were put in place, i.e. inadequate or improperly placed diversion signs, unclear notices on the duration of diversions, poor diagrammatic detour information on the local authority website and a lack of press releases to advise the general public to follow diversions." Mr McGrath said Athlone Chamber of Commerce was collecting a log of the traffic problems being encountered and, as a result, anybody experiencing delays of more than 15 minutes should phone the Chamber. "To reiterate, the first piece of advice we have for people is to use the arranged detours. There are minimal delays on those routes at present," he said on Monday. Disruptions would be eased if work on the bypass was carried out at night, but the chamber said it was unlikely such a change to the working schedule would be implemented because the contract for the project was already in place. He said that, for future projects which could impact on traffic, including the Athlone Main Drainage scheme, night shifts should be seriously considered by the council. In recent weeks trips from the west to the east side of Athlone have taken upwards of 30 minutes at certain times. On Monday morning the traffic flowed more smoothly, but on Monday afternoon Elaine Denby, co-owner of the A Slice of Life restaurant, said a trip from Connaught Street to Coosan took her all of 40 minutes. She stated that the catering and food delivery aspects of her business were particularly affected by the recent traffic jams. "Deliveries that would normally take us 30 to 40 minutes are now taking an hour or an hour and a half, so that's a serious issue for us," she said. "I appreciate that this work on the dual carriageway has to be done, but I don't think any thought or consideration was given to managing the knock-on impact the work would have on traffic in the town itself." Ms Denby felt that the present closure of a lane on Northgate Street was exacerbating the problems caused by the bypass works. She added that, when she was in Galway recently, a person who had just visited Athlone commented to her on the traffic problems experienced during that visit. "There is a huge amount of congestion in the town. It's unfair on the traders but it's also unfair on the general public. I think there is a real need for a meeting to sit down and talk about traffic management solutions." Emmet Dooley of Dooley's Florist Shop on Magazine Road said the bypass project would benefit the town in the long run, but he was critical of how the traffic diversions had been managed and said there had been a lack of foresight in relation to the gridlock now being experienced. He said there was a difficulty in relation to phonecalls to the council not being dealt with. He had phoned Athlone Town Council on five occasions to discuss the traffic situation. Three times his name and number were taken but his calls was not returned. On the other two occasions he was told he should ring the county council in Mullingar. Mr Dooley said some shoppers had told him the traffic delays meant they were now avoiding Athlone and travelling to Roscommon to do shopping there instead. He was also disappointed that the project was resulting in two exits from the bypass being closed, as the local authority had previously indicated that only one exit would be closed at any given time. And he said that there was no visible traffic management being implemented in the town. When asked about possible solutions, Mr Dooley said one could involve the bypass work taking place outside of the normal 8-5 hours. Turning off the traffic lights outside the AIB Bank at Custume Place and installing a temporary roundabout at that location might also help to free up traffic, he suggested.