Hill Street blues for drivers due to gas works

MOTORISTS trying to avoid road works on Hill Street and Wygram last week found they faced 15- to 20-minute delays after the workmen started the job much earlier than the council had warned.

But now the council has warned commuters that the Hill Street road works will start at 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, an hour and half earlier than they were supposed to start last week.

The county council sent out a traffic alert last week warning people of the works which were supposed to commence at 9 a.m. and finish at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.

But the early start on Thursday beat commuters trying to get into town ahead of the start time, with traffic moving at a crawl, well before 9 a.m along Newtown Road to Wygram.

Other drivers trying to turn into Hill Street found that route heavily congested with 15-minute delays before 8.30 a.m. The Hill Street road works are part of Gas Networks Ireland’s operations to lay a natural gas pipeline network around Wexford town. Meanwhile, there were more traffic problems in St Peter’s Square where more gas works were taking place. With cars parked either side of the road next to the garda barracks, traffic warning signs had been placed next to them, which effectively reduced the road width to one lane. leading to delays in all directions. Further up the road where it narrows, there were more problems, with no ‘stop and go’ signs controlling the movement of traffic, which caused long tailbacks and a lot of confusion. Cllr George Lawlor said he had spoken to Noel O’Driscoll at the county council who had promised to make sure that contractors complied with the announcements issued by the council. ‘It was unacceptable that that people made arrangements based on information supplied to the council,’ said Cllr Lawlor.