COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

MOTION NO.6

MOTION: Councillor J. Lahart

"That the Manager addresses the landscaping of the Green Route from the junction at Knocklyon Gate (Woodstown to Templeroan Roundabouts (including the roundabouts which are in a terrible condition) the verges along St Colmcille's Way, which I have raised before) which is in an overall poor condition and has never been properly reinstated since the M50 Upgrade completion."

REPORT:

The reinstatement of this area, following the laying of the Boherboy Water Scheme and the construction of the Quality Bus Corridor, is ongoing and a landscape contractor has been appointed to undertake the landscape work.  This work is in progress and it is expected that it will be completed in six to eight weeks.

Working on roads including roadside margins, medians and roundabouts presents significant Health & Safety and traffic management issues. While Council staff have been trained to operate in these areas, the Health & Safety measures and traffic management procedures now required restrict both the times of the day and the times of the week when maintenance works can be carried out. For example, maintenance on national primary routes, where traffic volumes are moving at high speed, is now only permitted at weekends in order to minimise the risk to staff and to reduce the levels of congestion and traffic delays. 

Roundabouts present a particular set of safety issues arising from the number of possible traffic movements. In order to work safely on a roundabout, appropriate advance warning must be provided on all approaches and, depending on the speed limit for the road, traffic must be controlled for a distance down each approach road. Traffic must also be moved away from the roundabout in order to provide a safe work area. 

In areas of the county where there are high traffic volumes, and this route falls into this category due to the proximity of the M50 interchange at Firhouse, the opportunity to carry out maintenance works is quite restricted by the Health & Safety and traffic management issues.

In order to provide safe access to a typical roundabout, it is now taking between 20 - 30mins to set up a safe work area in accordance with the regulations. An equivalent amount of time is also required at the end of the works to remove all of the safety measures put in place. As a result, it is proving increasingly difficult for our staff to gain access to roundabouts, at the frequency required, in order to carry out routine maintenance. 

The matter has been the subject of considerable discussion with the Council's Health & Safety Advisors in terms of best practice and the Council is also examining alternative options for roundabouts, in particular, those that are proving to be very difficult to access for routine maintenance.