Belfast Minister Warns Drivers to Anticipate Congestion

Stormont’s infrastructure minister John O’Dowd has stated that anyone traveling by car into Belfast city centre should “expect congestion.” This announcement followed complaints from motorists regarding several weeks of significant rush hour traffic during evening periods. Earlier, a senior DfI official suggested that individuals consider working from home one day per week. Alongside these proposals, the Department for Infrastructure (DFI) indicated it is examining road engineering measures, public transport interventions, and the provision of information to the public. Speaking in the Assembly on Monday, O’Dowd informed MLAs that he has established a strategic oversight group to assess potential actions to alleviate congestion during peak times. In response to an urgent oral question from the SDLP’s Mathhew O’Toole, O’Dowd urged motorists “to consider other options they can take to avoid congestion, such as public transport, park and ride, active travel, or if possible, planning their journey to use an alternative route or avoid peak times.” He added: “The fact remains there are too many cars and too limited a space, so therefore each of us have to make a decision in terms of how we deal with that.” He continued, “If you do travel into Belfast city centre, using a car, you should expect congestion, and that leads to congestion for other people as well.” Meanwhile, Colin Woods, the DfI’s deputy secretary, addressed questions concerning various road closures across the city during an appearance on BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show. “If people would use public transport or work from home one day a week even, you would start to see significant reductions in congestion,” he said. However, Clare Guinness, CEO of Belfast Chamber of Commerce, told BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra that this suggestion was “pretty shocking.” She emphasized that the festive period is a make-or-break time for businesses. “A lot of retailers, in particular, hotels and leisure operators really rely on this period, it makes their year. At a time when we need the shops to be busy, we don’t need anything that would reduce spending. So, if people are at home, they’re not spending money, they’re not buying lunch or going out for a drink. They’re not doing a bit of shopping so all of that will reflect negatively on businesses,” she added. Ms Guinness stated that inadequate planning for roadworks had exacerbated the traffic issues. “I think someone needs to look at the scheduling and I think they need to look at practical interventions that will make a difference tomorrow,” she said. Mr Woods was questioned on Nolan about roads across the city. Durham Street “I have acknowledged that the closure of Durham Street has had a significant impact on traffic and so we have taken a number of actions to try and make changes where we can,” he said. Mr Woods indicated that investments, such as Belfast Grand Central Station, would significantly impact traffic congestion. He described the new station as a “game changer” and affirmed it was “precisely the sort of investment that is needed” when considering long-term solutions. Sydenham Bypass Mr Woods stated the department was concerned that the Sydenham Bypass would require “emergency closures” over the winter if the planned work did not proceed this year. “We have delayed that work from previous years precisely because we wanted to try and avoid the traffic impact, but this year we did not believe we could wait,” he said. “We will always act where we think it is necessary from a structural integrity perspective of the road and to protect safety.” Mr Woods acknowledged the challenges but noted that the department limited the closure to weekends. Grosvenor Road Road users are currently unable to turn left from Great Victoria Street onto Grosvenor Road. Mr Woods explained this was a “pedestrian safety” issue, as the department had to remodel the junction “to cope” with the volume of pedestrians leaving Belfast Grand Central Station. He noted that the situation was under “close” review and that alternative routes to the Westlink were available. Dublin Road When asked about the reduction of lanes on the Dublin Road from four to one, Mr Woods stated that some of these measures had been in place for an extended period. He mentioned that the cycle lane was introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to establish “safe cycle routes for people.” Mr Woods added that an additional bus lane was incorporated into the road to allow buses to continue traveling along Great Victoria Street and through Shaftesbury Square even during congestion. The road now features parking, a cycle lane, a bus lane, and a lane for general traffic. Road engineering measures, such as: Public transport interventions, including: Providing the public with information on traffic conditions through: Mr Woods reported that during peak busy times, such as the evening rush hour, the road network experiences 10-15% over capacity. “The best advice I can give is to think carefully about our journey choices, if we can take the train or bus, or walk or cycle into Belfast city centre,” he said. “If we do need to drive, and many people do for all sorts of reasons, try and avoid travelling at peak times or stagger our journeys because if there are fewer vehicles on the road the traffic will flow better.” He also emphasized, “The other main thing is that if we are driving please don’t block junctions or yellow boxes because they are there for a reason.” Mr Woods stated that a car share initiative could become part of future transport policy, but it would not resolve the current traffic congestion issues. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.