Operation Freeflow the Christmas shopping period ban on digging up Dublin's roads should be extended all year-round, the Fine Gael Transport Spokesman, Mr Denis Naughten, told a conference on Transport on Saturday.
Speaking at the Fine Gael regional conference in Dublin entitled "Capital Punishment?" Deputy Naughten praised Operation Freeflow which was initially set in place by the then Fine Gael Taoiseach, John Bruton, in 1996.
Calling for improvements to rail bus and traffic management services Deputy Naughten said there should also be a "dedicated traffic corps to implement Operation Freeflow on a year-round basis, and not just at Christmas."
It consists mainly of a ban on non-essential road works in the busy Christmas shopping period the deployment of extra gardaí.
Launching what he called "Seven Steps" for short term transport relief, Deputy Naughten recommended:
New buses to be operated by the private sector
Doubling of DART capacity
Linking of Heuston and Connolly stations by frequent rail services via the Phoenix Park Tunnel
An extension of the SCATS traffic light system from Dublin City into the surrounding suburbs
A dedicated traffic corps
A new Dublin Transport Authority
Destination announcements on public transport services.
Some of these including the destination announcements, the extension of SCATS and privatisation of some bus routes are in fact currently underway. Operation Freeflow has, for the last two years been followed within hours of its launch by gridlocked conditions in Dublin City Centre.
