*Photograph: John Mangan
ENNIS’ public realm works recommence on Monday with appeals made for a temporary traffic management plan to be introduced to ease congestion while capacity issues at the Maid of Erin roundabout has been labelled as a contributory factor.
To facilitate Christmas trading in the county town, a moratorium on works for the €11.5m project was in place from November 28th until January 6th. Late 2025 is the target for the completion of the works which are attached to one of the largest infrastructural projects in the town but have also impacted on business for retailers in the town centre.
Deputy Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District, Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF) called for the introduction of temporary traffic management measures “to alleviate the traffic congestion in Ennis whilst the town works are underway”.
She highlighted, “The increasing difficulty of driving around Ennis town, particularly in the mornings and afternoons during school times, is leading to frequent gridlock. As an example, traffic from both the Abbey Street and Parnell St./Woodquay car parks, feeding onto Bindon Street and then onto Harmony Row, is causing significant congestion. At the end of Bindon Street, drivers are dependent on the flow of traffic to enable them turn right onto Harmony Row, but during peak times, this results in long delays and the build-up of traffic”.
Interim measures will be examined for Bindon St and Harmony Row with conversations to take place between the Ennis MD, the transportation department of Clare County Council and elected representatives.
Acting senior executive engineer, Paddy Tiernan cautioned, “There are very limited options available and it would be a concern that a solution for this location may push the problem to another part of Ennis. Initial but unverified assessments suggest that capacity issues at the Maid of Erin roundabout is the major contributing factor to the issues as raised within this Notice of Motion. Whilst we acknowledge the public realm works is contributing to the traffic issues being experienced, we believe the actual impact of these closures isn’t the primary cause as outlined above”.
He outlined, “Ennis, like most other large towns, experiences traffic congestion issues, most notably at school drop off and pick up times, particularly in the Harmony Row and New Road areas due to the large number of pupils (in excess of 2000) attending the various schools located there. This results in a significantly large number of traffic movements and by extension, traffic congestion”.
Long-term solutions to resolving congestion “will involve a number of factors,” Tiernan advised. “These include a modal shift to walking and cycling, greater update of existing public transport and possible the reconfiguration of existing roads, junctions, and roundabouts. The Ennis Town Bus Service which is expected to come on-line in 2025 will certainly provide huge benefit to the town and will result in less vehicles on our town centre roads. Members will also be aware that an Area Based Transport Assessment (ABTA) is also being prepared as part of the Local Area Plan (LAP) for Ennis. The ABTA will also play an important role in offering targeted long-term solutions to traffic issues within Ennis”.
Struggles to get a parking space in Ennis Town have been flagged by “several people countywide,” Cllr Baker Bashua stated. She admitted she was stuck in traffic for forty minutes on one occasion in the town when trying to post a letter in Bank Place and she travelled up through the Fair Green after finishing work and didn’t use Paddy’s name once “with my colourful language”. She added, “There’s no short-term solution because I finish school at 3:10 or 3:20, I can understand that it is not always like that, it is bottleneck on Bindon St on Saturday mornings, if we could come up with a solution of going left only at Bank Place, all of Bindon St is parked car to car, two car parks at Abbey St and Parnell St are trying to feed into Bindon St”.
Comments from the senior engineer that the public realm works have not impacted on traffic congestion were rejected by Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF). He stated, “When you go far into the town, the only option to get out is Bindon St and the Club Bridge. We are pushing out of the town when you go so far one way, it is causing congestion and for people to leave the town”.
Highlighting capacity issues at the Maid of Erin roundabout were welcomed by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF). He said, “There is congestion and there is works going on”. Traffic needs to move fast in the town, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) maintained.
Cllr Mary Howard (FG) admitted, “I don’t know what the solution would be”. She said the Department of Transport referenced bus services in the Budget “but that isn’t for the short-term”. She added, “This is the problem within a medieval town is you have this really small compact town centre. The Gort to Tulla Rd is a hugely important part of infrastructure to avoid this. I don’t know what the solution is but I’d like to see what Paddy can come up with”.
Director of Service, Carmel Kirby said the Budget was the “first announcement from the Government that funding for Ennis Town Bus Service will be provided for in the coming budget, we’re confident we can have a town bus service in 2025. We’ve been progressing with NTA, Seán (Lenihan) is leading the charge with Eamon (O’Dea) on identifying a depot for a fully electric bus service for the town”. The town bus will operate eighteen hours a day with services every half hour “from all directions of Ennis,” she explained.
This will “be a fantastic asset to the town, it is wonderful news and something which is very important,” Cllr O’Callaghan responded.
Senior engineer, Seán Lenihan remarked, “it is a bit of a chicken and egg”. He said, “We do take every opportunity when we meet schools and businesses to remind them of bike to work scheme. We’re looking at ways of better informing people of where spaces are available, if they just want to get around the town, you can’t get away from the fact that you have Coláiste, Gaelscoil and Community College beside each other, Rice College and the CBS are not too far away, in excess of 2000 students, most of them are being delivered one by one by car. We’ve to encourage parents and students to see if there is something they can do to alleviate the problem”.
Attempts to source a date on the potential start of the Ennis Town Bus Scheme were made by Cllr Daly, “it was tried years ago but it didn’t progress because we hadn’t the population. Can you see eventually what date it will start, will it be mid-2025”. Kirby replied, “I won’t commit to a date but I’m very confident it will be delivered in 2025 and we’ll deliver it as early in 2025 as we can”.
