Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
DIVERSIONS PUT IN place due to Luas Cross City works have led to significant traffic congestion on Moore Street, local business owners have warned.
In one incident, footage obtained by TheJournal.ie appears to show a Dublin Fire Brigade engine reversing down Moore Street last Friday due to congestion in the area.
Other footage shows a large backup of vehicles on the street. There are incidents of trucks reversing down a lane, cars beeping at one another and heavy traffic congestion.
Moore Street and the surrounding laneways make up a busy area in Dublin’s north inner city, connecting Parnell Street and the shopping district Henry Street.
Traffic restrictions on and around the street have been in place while works on the Luas are ongoing.
The street itself is narrow at one end and widens at the other. It has market stalls on either side and a number of different shops and cafés. The delivery bay for the Ilac Centre (which has a Dunnes Stores, TK Maxx and a number of other outlets) is on Sampson’s Lane which is reached via Moore Street.
Across and slightly down the road, there is a delivery bay for a busy Lidl, Jury’s Hotel and the Moore Street Mall which is also reached via the street. As well as this there is a Dublin City Council waste depot in the area.
Local business have previously expressed serious concerns over the works, saying that their livelihoods are being destroyed.
Recently, traffic has been prevented from exiting the Moore Street area onto Parnell Street at Conway’s pub via Moore Lane, which it had done previously.
“Chaos”
According to local business owner Stephen Troy, this has led to significant traffic issues which have further negatively affected businesses in the area.
“It’s absolute chaos. We’ve had six accidents in 12 weeks,” Troy told TheJournal.ie.
You had 30-foot lorries coming down and trying to go up the O’Rahilly Parade (which connects Moore Street with Moore Lane) and having to reverse.
Troy – who owns and operates Troy’s Butchers – is a spokesperson for the Dublin 1 Business Alliance, a collection of businesses in the area concerned at the impact the construction works are having on their livelihoods.
He said that the area had been experiencing the traffic issues for the past 12 weeks. He said in that time there had been a number of accidents and arguments between motorists.
In relation to the fire engine, Troy said he believed it was attempting to reach Henry Street via Moore Street and Moore Lane but appeared to have to reverse when the way was blocked with traffic. He said this had happened at least three times in recent weeks.
Troy said that these issues – along with the wider issues of the Luas works on Parnell Street – were crippling businesses in the area.
“They keep saying we’re going to have the benefit of this… but for me this is a permanent thing. It’s permanent damage,” he said.
New plans
As of 14 August, further traffic restrictions will be introduced to the area, which Troy said will further impact business.
A leaflet handed out by Luas Cross City states that no traffic will be permitted to enter Moore Street from Parnell Street, in order to facilitate the “main infrastructure” works of the project.
Instead, traffic is advised to travel from Parnell to Capel Street, down the Quays, onto O’Connell Street, then turn left onto Henry Street and directly onto Moore Street.
“Lorries and trucks are going to find it very hard to get into the area,” said Troy.
“They’re going to have to detour to get here which will have a permanent effect on my business.
And customers won’t be able to come in to park at all.
The restrictions are due to be in place until the end of September.
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, a spokesperson for Luas Cross City said that changes to the traffic flow at Moore Lane had been introduced during the construction in order to “facilitate the various traffic management phases required to deliver the works”.
The spokesperson said that a one-way system at Moore Lane would be in place until the end of September.
They said that the concerned streets were prone to traffic congestion before the construction works began. They also said that signage and road markings were put in place to reduce the disruption from the works.
Luas Cross City representatives liaised with gardaí, Dublin City Council officials and local businesses when devising the traffic management plans, the spokesperson said.
They said that the upcoming works for the area (beginning tomorrow) were “essential re-surfacing works required to upgrade the current cobblestone surfacing at this junction and upgrade the road drainage infrastructure”.
Permission for these works and to alter traffic flow in the area was provided for in the Railway Order granted by An Bord Pleanála in 2012, the spokesperson said.
Last week, major diversions were put in place in Dublin city centre in order to facilitate Luas works there.
Works on the Luas Cross City began in early 2013. They were completed on the tracks in June, with testing and other construction due to be completed by the end of the year.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The meteorologists give colour coded warnings and they’re criticised for being alarmist. Then when its percieved thay didn’t give a warning they’re at fault.
They may have slightly underestimated the amounts yesterday, but they did forecast snow in the afternoon. Weather is unpredictable, it’s not possible to be 100% right all the time.
@James Wallace: colour coded warnings are useless basically yellow or orange go to work. red go to work if your workplace is open.
@James Wallace: they forecast snow in the afternoon….when it was already snowing. Ya good work guys. I got caught and it took close on two hours to get from Naas to Newbridge
@ed w: Actually, a red warning advises that nobody travel and to stay safe, even if it’s to go to work. Retail/office staff who are disciplined for missing work during a red warning will have a slam dunk winning case, also, businesses leave themselves open to cases for risking staffs safety and wellbeing for operating during these events.
Warning systems save lives, and undoubtedly they have during the 2 we’ve had in the last 2 years.
@Mick Morrissey: They forecast snow the day before. I follow the weather regularly. They issued the warning and well.
I was caught in the M7 delays yesterday, 7.5hrs on a bus from Cork to Dublin with no water and no food. It was horrendous.
AA Roadwatch was poorly updated and updated far too late – they should have put out a do not travel unless necessary notice at 2pm but failed to do so (because it was Sunday I’m sure) and caused thousands and thousands of people to be stranded on dark motorways. The whole thing was a farce and put vulnerable people in an impossible position (there were elderly people and a pregnant woman on our coach who were very stressed).
They knew the snow was coming and did absolutely nothing to mitigate the effects. Embarrassing, incompetent Irish as usual.
@Rachel: what exactly do you expect them to do? Turn off the weather to suit you?
@Rachel: AA is not our weather forecasters where were they with there forecast Excuse the pun They were asleep at the wheel
The BBC HAD IN ON SATURDAY NIGHT THAT SNOW WAS ARRIVING IN THE UK SUNDAY Did our people think none would fall here
@Rachel: to the people commenting do ye not have any lives of your own that you have to put pathetic comments on here she was only passing a comment which she is in titled to do.
@Rachel: S
@Rachel: So Rachel it their fault you didn’t bring any food or drinks with you !! And probably cause there was no toilet on board either
So if someone travelling from Cork to Dublin had seen a sign that said it was snowing and to expect long delays, that they would what… turn around and go back?
@Reuben Gray: no. They would find something else to complain about
@Shaun Gallagher: Maybe the overhead signs could just say “Brexit, discuss”.
@Reuben Gray: if they were near enough to Cork they might have, and likewise someone travelling South have have turned around and headed home to Dublin
@Reuben Gray: yes or if they had a child, come off at the next exit and find somewhere to stop and wait it out. We were stuck in our car with 2 hungry kids for hours and it was no joke.
We got the warnings. Mother nature is unpredictable
Weather forecast said rain turning to light snow fall would not stick because of wet ground and going back to rain. Not what happened.
@KJmadra.: In life never believe all you read.Especially about the weather in March in Ireland.
@Billy McNamara: I don’t not much can be believed from met eireann. Usually opposite.
@KJmadra.: Your comment is telling of lack of understanding of complex global weather system, local climates and other variables needed to attempt to forecast weather.
It’s a bleedin forecast, not a prediction
It was the worst I’ve ever experienced yesterday. 3:30 mins from kildare shopping village to the ball in Naas. 4 hrs total to get to work.
There were reports of congestion going into Newbridge and Naas so I have another half hour early, but the back roads were also reported to be dangerous & trees down in area.
Im not sure what could of been done to fix it but it would of been a nice touch to have a least one emergency service out with a few cans of fuel as a good few ran out and caused further blockages.
Maybe hand out bottles of water given it was so many hours stuck between 2 exits for hours.
I’ll always keep at least a third of a tank and water in car in future!
@Shayne O’Donoghue: So during sever weather events, you want people to come to your car and offer you a bottle of water and fill your car? Why not instruct your chauffeur to keep a jerry can and a water cooler accessible at all times?
@Shayne O’Donoghue: what planet do you live on. FFS!!
@Shayne O’Donoghue: being prepared always seems to be the last option.
AA Roadwatch = waste of space. Totally useless.
@Cathal Flood: not only are they a private company, they are a self proclaimed political lobby group and as such should not be getting any free air time, especially on RTE which is supposed to be an impartial public service broadcaster. By getting into bed with the AA, RTE is breaching it’s own guidelines. Yet every time we discuss congestion, bus corridors, cycle lanes etc, up pops AA to give their self serving input.
@James Wallace: and we have to look at that crooked mouth acting like a government spokesperson or self appointed voice of the driver.
@James Wallace: I’m afraid the AA have always been a political body… they were founded in the UK in the early part of the last century to warn motorists that police were carrying out speed checks ahead . They only started repairing cars later on !
@Ollie Conroy: exactly, they have always been a political body so why are they allowed free reign on the airwaves? RTE are not allowed to promote or favour one political body over another
@In my opinion: she obviously does not remember when that was normal journey time!!
Thanks for name calling – I shouldn’t even rely to trolls… Especially anonymous ones…. But the status yellow warning was for rain not snow.
@Louise O’Connor: it was for snow as well. There were numerous warnings yesterday. Wind rain and snow!
@joe: snow was forecast for high ground only.
@Louise O’Connor: agreed Louise I was in the same situation yesterday checked the weather before I left a warning against rain with snow on high ground. Plus the toll plaza was a joke only two lanes open causing huge back logs
@john paul crowley: thanks. And yes toll plaza was something medieval. If guards were onsite, they could have managed the flow much more quickly. There were 6km tailbacks on both sides.
TII is the key to the chaos, you cannot believe how under qualified these people are. Like cervical check, HSE, ran by people not from shop floor, so if you see a cool logo your usually dealing with BS. Another logo the RSA no sign of them condemning because if you saw the number of tips,crashes it is amazing someone wasn’t seriously hurt.
If there is to be snow you hedge, have your gritter ready supporting the motorways the preparation is not to send out a Suit to give positive soundbites. Fact is if you had of supported the road networks with gritters prior then the shutdown would not of happened.
Rem . Nothing works here because of bluffers in suits.
@Albert Brennerman: totally agree.
TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE IRELAND (TII)
And another quango surfaces.
Traveling back from Kilkenny to Dublin when the snow hit. Added an hour or so into the journey. The biggest issue, by a country mile, were the absolute idiots, no, that’s too mild a word, that put their lives and mine in danger as they rushed to get home faster, jumping lanes, creating “3rd” lanes, speeding through drifts. If you are reading lads, F@#K YOU
That what happens when Irish retailer’s told met office to quit the weather warning as it was affecting their business. It was only one afternoon get over it – and now realise who dictates what information is released to the public.
1) Had they ‘salted’ the roads in advance?
2) Was this caused because there were not enough staff on duty because it was a Sunday?
Forecast was for wintery showers turning to sleet and snow for the midlands and that’s what happened the motorways were closed in sections due to accidents leading to Sunday night traffic being diverted through towns and inevitably delays. The ploughs and gritters were out but the volume of snow was horrendous so not much more could be done to prevent the delays
@Eamonn O Connell: was four hours on the motorway never saw one snow plough or gritter
@GClare: I do.
Always a worrying sign when swans can be seen flying @ night??
You’d be sorted in a Kia Sorrento AWD
” … If all the girls in this college were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Dorothy Parker
@GClare: I do. Not that it has anything to do with yesterday’s events.
“..She’s as pure as the driven slush. …”
Dorothy Parker
@In my opinion: there were no warnings.
BBC had it on Saturday night…
have your say