The full express bus priority scheme for the N11 will now proceed following the decision by Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan and TII to allow Wicklow County Council to complete the design.
Green Party TD for Wicklow Steven Matthews said ‘I have been working constantly with Wicklow County Council, Minister Eamon Ryan, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to ensure we get the funding and the go ahead to provide express buses, park and ride options and the priority routing from Junction 9 to Junction 4.
“I promised I would deliver better public transport for Wicklow, and I am delivering that commitment through this bus priority scheme. We have already seen a huge increase in rural bus services throughout all Wicklow areas, a new Wicklow - Bray bus and a new late evening service on the train line. Now we will have reliable journey times on the N11 for those who choose to take the bus, supported by Park and Ride options which I am working with the NTA to provide in tandem with this bus priority scheme.
The biggest climate emissions challenge we face in Ireland is through transport emissions where we have locked people into car dependency with few alternatives. I am determined to deliver more and better services for Wicklow residents and I can be depended on to deliver that commitment. Public transport needs to be affordable, and we have slashed bus and rail fares to encourage greater use and assist with cost-of-living increases. Public transport must be comfortable, and we are delivering the largest ever order of new rail carriages including battery electric DARTs for the extension to Wicklow Town, new busses on the Wicklow, Arklow and West Wicklow routes route and new busses for the local link services across the county. Services need to be frequent and reliable so increasing the fleet, recruiting more drivers and the provision of bus corridors such as the N11 scheme in Wicklow and Bus Connects for north Wicklow to Dublin ensures journeys times become reliable – far more so than car use in chaotic congestion every morning on the N11.
When the N11 upgrade scheme was announced with third lanes, tunnels, green field routes and road widening most politicians called for it be accelerated without a single thought for climate, air quality or the inevitable congestion through induced demand that would follow. I called for greater choices for commuters through investment in public transport, a DART extension to Wicklow Town, bus priority, park and ride and road and safety and drainage improvements and that is all being delivered. There will always be a need for the N11 and N81 to maintained and made safer, but the future is about public transport alternatives and relieving commuters from long, congested, expensive and car dependent commutes. The Greens are delivering on that’ concluded Deputy Matthews.
Note for Editor
Scheme Introduction:
The severity of traffic congestion issues on the N11/M11, particularly at peak travel times, requires an early intervention to start addressing the problems on the corridor. Accordingly, a project to assess the feasibility of providing bus lanes on the N11/M11 corridor is progressing.
This project, called the ‘N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme’ (N11/M11 BPIS), is progressing as a multi-authority project involving Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the National Transport Authority (NTA), Wicklow County Council and Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. Kildare National Roads Office has been appointed to project manage the scheme. Wicklow County Council has appointed Arup as technical consultants to progress the planning and design of the project in accordance with the TII Project Management Guidelines (PMG).
The overriding objective of the N11/M11 BPIS is to develop a proposal for the provision of bus priority measures (in both directions) during peak periods on the N11/M11 national road. Priority facilities can be used by buses/coaches to avoid congested traffic lanes and help to reduce the current unsustainable dependency on the private car.
The N11/M11 BPIS will provide dedicated bus lanes along the section of existing N11/M11 route extending from Loughlinstown roundabout in the north to N11 Junction 9 (Glenview) in the south
This section of the N11/M11 corridor traverses two local authorities, with the northern portion of the scheme located within the boundary of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the remaining extent within Wicklow County Council. The scheme covers sections of the existing route designated as Motorway and Type 1 Dual Carriageway.
The N11/M11 route is identified within the NTA’s Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area 2016 – 2035 (GDA Strategy) as a ‘Regional Corridor’ as part of the ‘Core Bus Network’. As outlined in the GDA Strategy, to develop an efficient, reliable, and effective bus system, the core bus network should be developed to achieve:
Continuous priority for bus movement on the portions of the Core Bus Network;
Enhanced bus lane provisions on these corridors;
Removal of current delays on the bus network, enabling the bus to provide a faster alternative to car traffic along these routes;
A more efficient core bus system with faster bus journeys means that more people can be moved with the same level of vehicle and driver resources.
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