Democrat Editorial: Going nowhere - Letterkenny set for more gridlock

With schools set for the new term over the next week, commuters in Letterkenny should be prepared for increased traffic logjams.

Peak periods over the summer saw significant back-ups and there seems no end in sight to an issue that has plagued businesses, shoppers and tourists alike.

In the next month, round 5,000 students, many of them drivers, will be back through the gates of ATU Donegal.

All of this means only one thing: Gridlock.

Traffic lights are currently being installed at the Polestar roundabout and work on the Four Lane project, already significantly delayed, remains ongoing.

Both projects are to be welcomed, but are not going to alleviate a problem that has gone way beyond being solved by traffic lights or a stretch of tarmac.

Due to a lack of proper public transport to serve the town, most houses are car dependant. The Letterkenny Town Bus service is somewhere between inadequate and non-existent.

Letterkenny has grown vastly in the last decade. Huge businesses, some of which employ thousands, are now based in the town; university status was granted to the third level college; housing developments continue to expand.

The town’s infrastructure has not improved at a similar rate and Letterkenny is now paying a price for years - decades, perhaps - of poor planning and an absence of real foresight, meaning that simple journeys have become arduous and frustrating.

Councillor Gerry McMonagle told a meeting of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District: “It’s not one bridge we need - there are three new bridges needed in this town.”

One alone would make a huge difference, but even that would take years to become a reality.

You could be forgiven for feeling that the plans for upgrading Letterkenny’s infrastructure are like being caught in one of those notorious traffic jams: Going nowhere.