70% of cars using Shop Street ‘shouldn’t be there’

A survey last month of traffic using the city centre pedestrian routeway during the early morning delivery ‘window’ of 5.30am to 10.30am revealed that 156 private cars passed through it.

The survey – presented as part of the Tobin Engineering and Cunnane Stratton Reynolds consultancy report on the project – also showed that some of those private cars used the area for parking.

During the morning of the survey – Tuesday, November 13 – a total of 341 vehicles entered the pedestrian zone. 68 of the 188 commercial vehicles that entered the area were not delivering but just ‘passing through’.

The average stay for commercial vehicles in the pedestrian zone was 19 minutes while 18 vehicles stayed over one hour, city councillors heard from the consulting engineers.

The consultants suggest in their report that 30-minute allocated slots would manage 120 vehicles in two hours while approximately 30 ‘true’ allocated loading bay spaces were required in the pedestrian zone.

Mayor Niall McNelis said that many businesses along the pedestrian zone used their own cars to service their premises which could explain some of the so-called private car usage.

Consultant Engineer with Tobin Consulting Engineers, Patrick Cunningham, told councillors at Monday night’s meeting, that 24-hour access to the pedestrian zone had to be given for the emergency services, pedestrians and street cleaners.

He said that at present the reserved hours for delivery vehicles and waste collection vehicles were from 5.30am to 10.30am.

The Consultant Engineers have proposed that 40 tonne articulated trucks and through traffic should not have access to the pedestrian zone.

Cllr Donal Lyons said that there was a problem with the weight of HGVs (heavy goods vehicles) on the pedestrian surfaces with Cllr Declan McDonnell suggesting the putting in place of off-street loading bays for the heavier vehicles.

According to Cllr John Walsh, the survey showed that around 70% of vehicles using the pedestrian zone shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Senior City Council Executive Engineer, Uinsinn Finn, said that as regards deliveries, restrictions were needed. “We need to start taking back control of the area. It is a vibrant street,” he said.