COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

MOTION NO. 11

MOTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

"That this Area Committee requests the Manager to present a detailed report, for discussion, on the impact of recent changes to traffic signals at Newcastle Road, including the junction with eastbound N4 on-ramp; and further requests the Manager to examine the possibility of an upgrade of the SuperQuinn roundabout and other possible measures to improve traffic flow at Newcastle Road."

REPORT:

Since September the level of congestion has increased when compared to previous years. This is primarily due to capacity provided in recent years being finally used up and any additional growth in traffic causing congested conditions. Greater flows of traffic are experienced on main roads and consequently on other roads as driver either commence or complete their trips. The N4 now carries over 100,000 vehicles each day.

The council's Traffic Section has recently made some changes to the timings and sequence of the signals with a view to increasing throughput on the Newcastle Rd. In addition ANPR cameras have been installed on the Newcastle Rd to accurately measure journey times.

Results so far seem to indicate a reduction in times compared to those previously reported.

The signal sequence at the Hillcrest junction includes 23 seconds of non-green time per cycle. This is the addition of the minimum safety allowance between the different manoeuvres at the junction, this non-green time cannot be reduced.

The next time saving option that could be made is to remove the right turn into Hillcrest from the N4 Interchange  with this traffic using the roundabout at Esker Drive / Superquin or Dodsborough at the western end of Hillcrest.