Bypass fails to solve Enfield's traffic problems

Victor

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2002/0530/3331855474HM2MID1.html

Bypass fails to solve Enfield's traffic problems

Up to 75 per cent of traffic is still going through the Meath village of Enfield at some periods of the day despite a new bypass. Meath County Council has acknowledged the problem and said new measures to tackle it would be in place within weeks.

People travelling westwards from Dublin will be familiar with Enfield as it had become increasingly congested in recent years after towns such as Kilcock and Kinnegad were bypassed.

Some 30,000 vehicles use the N4 road to the west every day, 7,500 of which are heavy goods vehicles.

A relief road opened in April but because it involves two roundabouts and a set of traffic lights, drivers believe it is quicker to go straight through the village.

Traffic managers spent years wondering how to speed up the traffic through Enfield but now they are faced with trying to find a way to slow it down.

Traders say drivers of heavy goods vehicles are the main culprits and many of them hurtle through the village. Gardaí issued about 80 speeding tickets to drivers going through the village on the May Bank Holiday Monday and are expected to be out in force again this weekend.

A Garda spokesman said that up to three-quarters of vehicles were still going through the village at certain times instead of using the bypass.

He said bank holidays were traditionally a busy time for speed checks, and the speeding problem in Enfield would ensure that gardaí would be active this weekend.

Ms Sarah Carey, spokeswoman for Enfield Traders Association, said traders had predicted traffic would not use the bypass because of the road layout. "But we hoped for the best as you don't want to be always complaining," she said.

She said the heavy goods vehicles were "absolutely belting through the village" and warned that there would be fatalities. "At least traffic was very slow before, because of the congestion but now it's really dangerous to cross the road."

She also asked why traffic lights were placed on the bypass and said this was unheard of. Drivers on the road from Edenderry wishing to go towards Dublin frequently flouted the law, she said, as many people executed a forbidden right turn onto the bypass instead of going through the village.

Enfield traders have called for an expanded traffic corps for the village and for outlying areas such as Leinster Bridge, a regular accident scene. A spokesman for Meath County Council said the council had always intended to assess the success of the relief road after it had been operating for a few weeks.

Mr Kevin Stewart said the bypass had generally been successful but agreed that a problem had emerged with a large number of heavy goods vehicles.

To counteract this, new traffic lights would be in place in the village in three weeks, he said. The lights would be on the west side of the village, on the junction of the Edenderry road, and would incorporate two pedestrian crossings.

Some heavy vehicles would still need to use the village but this would remove the advantage of the short-cut, Mr Stewart said.

Local councillor and businessman Mr Bill Carey said the villagers were not trying to drive all traffic from Enfield but that heavy traffic would discourage people from stopping to do business.

As well as traffic lights on the west side of the village, he called for a pedestrian crossing on the east side to facilitate residents from adjacent housing estates.

Mr Stewart said the situation would be under continuous review and if it was felt that another pedestrian crossing was necessary, it would be put in place.