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Tom Brennan is a Senior engineer with Sligo
County Council. He graduated in Civil
Engineering from University College Dublin in
1982. He also completed post graduate
studies in Trinity College Dublin in Highways
and Environmental Engineering in the late
1980's. He is a chartered Engineer and
Registered Professional Engineer in the U.S.A.
Tom previously worked for the ESB, spent a
period in the U.S.A. and also worked for Kildare
and South Dublin County Councils, prior to
commencing work with Sligo Local Authorities in
1995.
Tom currently has specific responsibility for
the promotion and delivery of transportation and
related projects, in the Sligo City and Environs
area, which are critical to the growth of Sligo
City and surrounding areas as a gateway, as
designated under the National Spatial Strategy.
WHAT TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS DO YOU
CONSIDER CRITICAL TO THE GROWTH OF SLIGO CITY
AND THE SURROUNDING AREA?
Several transportation projects in Sligo
City and County are critical to the growth of
the Sligo region. However the following
are a number of schemes which need particular
emphasis in the short-term, with respect to
promotion and funding and are considered
critical to the growth of Sligo as a city:
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Western Distributor Road
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Eastern Garavogue Bridge
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N15 Sligo to County
Boundary - Phase 1 which includes widening
of Hughes Bridge and construction of a dual
carriageway road from the City to Shannon
Eighter.
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Introduction to new
traffic flow and management arrangements to
Sligo City Centre including the making of
O'Connell Street pedestrian only and the
carrying out of environmental and aesthetic
improvements in the City Centre.
WHAT IS THE OVERALL
STRATEGY FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN SLIGO?
The Traffic Management Strategy
developed for Sligo included the completion of
the Sligo Inner Relief Road which was opened i n
September last year. This is to be
followed by the construction of a Western
Distributor Road to serve Western areas of Sligo
City and an Eastern Garavogue Bridge crossing to
improve access to eastern areas. Phase 1
of the N15 Realignment Sligo to County Boundary
will widen Hughes Bridge and provide a Dual
Carriageway to Shannon Eighter, and will relieve
traffic congestion on the Northern approaches to
Sligo City. One of the main purposes of
this overall strategy is to relieve traffic
congestion and introduce new traffic flow
arrangements including pedestrian only streets
and allow major environmental improvement works
to take place.
WHAT STAGE ARE THESE
PROJECTS AT?
As you know the Inner Relief Road opened
in 2005. A preferred route has been
selected for the Western Distributor road from
the Caltragh Interchange to the Strandhill Road
and this project is expected to go through the
planning process later in 2006 with construction
commencing in 2007. Consultants have been
appointed for the design of the Eastern
Garavogue Bridge and design work has commenced.
It is expected that construction could start in
3 years. The design of Phase 1 - N15 Sligo
to County Boundary from Hughes Bridge with a
dual carriageway out of Sligo has commenced and
it is expected that funding for construction of
this project will be made available in the next
few years. The opening of the Sligo Inner
Relief Road now allows for revised traffic flow
arrangements and in particular the changing of
O'Connell Street to pedestrian only. It is
intended to carry out some changes in summer
2006 and in particular the pedestrianisation of
O'Connell Street.
O'CONNELL STREET IS DUE
TO BE PEDESTRIANISED. EXPLAIN WHAT THIS
WILL INVOLVE?
In order to facilitate the making of
O'Connell Street pedestrian only, some changes
are being implemented to traffic flows around
the City Centre. These include making Old
Market Street one-way South, no exit from JFK
Parade onto Thomas Street and improvement of the
junction at the 'Veritas Corner' with the
introduction of a left turn slip lane from
Temple Street to John Street. These
changes will facilitate traffic avoiding
O'Connell Street and taking a more circulatory
route around the City Centre core. Once
O'Connell Street is made pedestrian only, the
traffic situation will be monitored on an
ongoing basis and further changes will be made
if necessary.
HOW WILL O'CONNELL
STREET OPERATE WHEN PEDESTRIAN ONLY?
O'Connell Street and Tobergal Lane will
become pedestrian only with access for
deliveries proposed from 8.00am to 11.30am and
deliveries from the street must take place
during these times. There will be no
vehicular access onto this street outside these
hours. Access will be from the Northern
Post Office end only with exit from the Southern
end onto John Street. It is expected that
traffic flows in Grattan Street and Castle
Street will be greatly reduced.
WHAT WILL BE THE
OVERALL IMPACT ON THE CITY CENTRE?
One overall aim of this Traffic
Management Strategy is to eliminate through
traffic passing along core commercial city
centre streets and to encourage through traffic
to use a circulatory route around the centre
including Sligo Inner Relief Road. Core
city centre streets such as O'Connell Street,
Castle Street, Grattan Street, John Street,
Market Street and High Street can then be
traffic calmed, made pedestrian priority or made
pedestrian only. Major ciyscape
environmental improvement schemes can then take
place on these streets. This will greatly
improve the attractiveness of these streets and
the city centre in general to shoppers and
tourists and greatly improve business.
O'CONNELL STREET ITSELF
ONCE IT IS MADE PEDESTRIAN ONLY?
Immediately after pedestrianisation, it
is planned to introduce new street furniture and
box planters to improve the attractiveness of
the street. Plans are also being prepared
for a major environmental improvement scheme for
O'Connell Street similar to shop street in
Galway or Grafton Street in Dublin. Public
consultation on proposals will take place later
in 2006 with construction work is expected
to commence in 2007.
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