COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

MOTION NO. 27

MOTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

"That this Area Committee calls on the Manager to carry out works to improve traffic flow along the stretch of Griffeen Avenue, between the Griffeen Road roundabout and Grangecastle Road junction, including widening of the road, provision of additional lanes approaching the traffic lights and recessing of the bus stops."

REPORT:

Griffeen Ave is a local distributor road leading onto the Grange Castle Road via a signal controlled junction.

Griffeen Road joins Griffeen Ave via a roundabout approx 180m from the Grange Castle Road.

Griffeen Educate Together school is adjacent to this roundabout.

Griffeen Ave suffers from congestion especially associated with school opening/ closing timings as large numbers of parents drive children to and from schools.

In addition the location of a bus stop close to the Griffeen Ave/ Griffeen Road roundabout can add to delays in the area as vehicles accessing the ORR can have difficulty passing stationary buses at the stop.

The layout of the roundabout also forces traffic on Griffeen Road to yield to traffic from Griffeen Ave so that during the peak hours any capacity between the signals and the roundabout tends to be taken by traffic from Griffeen Ave with little benefit to Griffeen Road.

The traffic signals at the Grange Castle Road Junction typically in the morning peak give in the region of 25- 30% of total green time to Griffeen Ave. This is in line with the demands on the junction which is vehicle activated and corresponds to the traffic volume movement through the junction.

A scheme was previously proposed which sought to increase permeability in the area thereby alleviating congestion the area by encouraging more foot and cycle journeys and also to replace the roundabout with traffic signals incorporating pedestrian and cycle facilities. This would have enabled the signals to be co-ordinated with the signals at the main junction ensuring a more even efficient use of capacity and also removing obstacles to walking and cycling. This scheme was to be funded by way of grant from the NTA.

The scheme failed to find support at Part 8 and funding is no longer available.

The provision of a lay-by at the bus stop may make some improvement to congestion as it would improve access to the existing signalised junction. This would involve the removal of a length of grass verge and or cycle track and a possible portion of the open space in Moy Glas. Should such a scheme be proposed a source of funding would need to be identified.