Travel times to be quicker
THE upgrade of the N4/N15 at Hughes Bridge will cut travel times through Sligo Town by up to 20 per cent once its finished.
The time saving will be due to a new state of the art Urban Traffic Control System according to Kevin Crawley of Sligo County Council, which will also reduce gridlock at rush hour.
He updated councillors on the road works progress at last week’s meeting of the Borough District of Sligo.
Mr Crawley told Cllr Chris MacManus that the 20 per cent time saving “would be very dependent on congestion issues.”
The Urban Traffic Control System (UTC) will be installed at thirteen junctions, starting at the first set of lights after the Summerhill roundabout on the inner-relief road. Members heard the “Intelligent Transportation System” will include “real time data, intelligent decisions” and traffic signals that “speak to each other.”
Other benefits for the 30,000 cars who travel the route daily will include reduced fuel consumption and pollution, with potential for Emergency Green Waves and Bus Priority.
Longer stacking lanes for the turn offs onto both Markievicz Road and the N16 at Duck Street will be created. Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Cllr Tom MacSharry said there were “serious traffic problems” at the bottom of Barrack Street and Holborn Hill exiting onto Duck Street.
He was told that the existing diverging lane would be lengthened making it “much, much easier” to merge traffic.
Members heard that the works are expected to be completed by July 2020. Night-time works began last week and would take “approximately four weeks” he said.
The reason work is being done at night he said, is because they would be “hugely disruptive for the town” if they were done during the day.
A major change included in the works will be a new traffic light junction off the N15 for Cartron and Rosses Point, replacing the old slip road. Members were told that a roundabout was “not efficient in an urban setting.”
Pedestrian crossing lights at the petrol station will also be linked to the Cartron junction traffic lights to make it safer for pedestrians crossing the N15.
The green space beside the turn off for Rosses Point will also be re-landscaped to make it “more user-friendly for cyclists and pedestrians.”
Cllr MacSharry welcomed the progress so far as well as the upcoming new pedestrian crossing at Cartron: “It’s very welcome. It needed to be addressed,” he said.
Cllr Rosaleen O’Grady paid tribute to the Council staff and said it was important to “acknowledge the fabulous work being done by Kevin Crawley and the Roads Department of the Council.”
She also pointed to historic flooding issues along Duck Street and asked if flooding had been considered.
“Yes, it’s effectively a bridge for the Copper River,” said Crawley. He said new pre-cast concrete culverts would be replacing steel pipes which had been installed twenty-five years ago and were now beginning to corrode.
“There’s significant drainage works as part of the scheme and should alleviate it (flooding),” he told Cllr O’Grady.
Cllr Declan Bree also enquired if the road works on Duck Street would alleviate the historic flooding near St John’s Hospital. Crawley replied that there would be more capacity for the water to get through the new pipes which would “help prevent blocks from debris” which caused flooding in the past.
Summing up, Council Chief Executive Ciarán Hayes said the fibre-optic communication technology associated with the Urban Traffic Control System also feeds into their “Smart City” initiative.
“All the works that are going on are proofing us for the future, the infrastructure to take Sligo into the future,” he told members.
He also said public lighting would be included next year, which will form part of the public furniture upgrades which will allow the Council to develop “Smart Sligo”.