Road infrastructure investment is a “core part” of the Government’s Vision Zero strategy to eradicate road deaths by 2050, Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers has said.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has warned that 77 deaths and 381 serious injuries could happen on Irish roads in the next five years if proposed infrastructure projects are not completed. Among the schemes it identifies as potential death traps if upgrades are not made are the Cork city northern transport project, the N4 between Maynooth and Leixlip and Mullingar to Longford and the N24 between Limerick and Waterford.
The TII made its calculations based on evidence that a divided road with a vehicle restraint barrier is more than two times safer than a single carriageway road.
Mr Chambers, whose brief includes roads, said the TII warning was “stark”. He said it was important we listened to feedback and expert advice from TII, and that was why there would be a wider discussion on capital investment.
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Green Party Minister Roderic O’Connor defended his stance on roads infrastructure, stating that the present Government had spent €5.1 billion on roads. That included more than €1 billion that had been spent specifically on resurfacing and upgrading roads. “This was more than was done in the previous government. The focus of the use of the road budgets continues to be on road safety and upgrading.”
The two Ministers were speaking at the launch of the first dedicated bus service for the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Route 99 will be operated by Dublin Bus and will run every 30 minutes seven days a week between Parkgate Street near Heuston Station to the visitor centre in the Phoenix Park. The first bus will depart the visitor centre at 9am and the last bus will depart at 6pm, with the service starting to operate from on Sunday, October 8th. Route 99 is part of the TFI 90-minute Dublin Leap fare structure. Stops will include Dublin Zoo and Áras an Uachtaráin.
The Phoenix Park Transport and Mobility Options Study, developed by the OPW, the NTA, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, identified the need for a bus service to the park as part of its ambition to reduce private car usage in the park where a recent 30km/h speed limit was introduced.
The new bus route has been designed to allow a greater number of trips to be facilitated by public transport to and from the Phoenix Park. Mr Ryan said the new bus service would allow families with children to visit the park without having to deal with the hassle of parking.
The TII warning has raised questions from some TDs over the Government’s commitment to road-funding upgrades given the Green Party’s insistence that capital infrastructure on roads must be two to one in favour of public transport.
The board of the TII held a meeting on October 25th last year where it was decided that a briefing note should be prepared and issued to the Department of Transport describing the consequences that would flow from any decision to not adequately fund the national new roads programme. The board said it was “concerned about funding cuts leading to increases in fatalities and serious injuries because of delays to projects and improvements to dangerous sections of national roads”.
Asked about the document on his arrival at an EU summit in Granada, Spain, Mr Varadkar said:
“I do support more funding for roads. I should be clear on that. But also we need to make sure there’s adequate funding for public transport. We have a commitment in the programme for government to make sure that funding for public transport outweighs investment in roads by two to one and that makes sense to me.”
