'Traffic congestion in Letterkenny cannot be resolved by signalisation alone'

Donegal County Council have reiterated their belief that traffic issues in Letterkenny will not be solved by traffic lighting alone.

Traffic lights were installed at Polestar Roundabout last month and assessment is ongoing as to how best they can ease the flow of traffic. Another stage of commissioning works is to get underway on Monday in a further attempt to ease problems experienced in the three weeks to date. Traffic delay are expexred during this process.

“The main objectives of the signalisation works are to optimise the traffic flow through the roundabout, as much as possible, and to provide safe crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, Donegal County Council said. 

“Since the signals were turned on, a commissioning process has been ongoing to ensure the lights achieve the optimum balance of flows through the roundabout. 

“Further commissioning works are planned at the roundabout next week commencing Monday, November 6, to improve the phasing of the lights and to address the issues encountered to date. 

“It is possible that additional traffic delays will be experienced as this process is carried out. This will continue to be monitored and changes will be made to improve the function of the signals where possible. We again ask for the patience of the motorists and the general public during this time.

“We again reiterate that traffic congestion in Letterkenny and on those particularly busy roads converging at the Polestar Roundabout at peak times cannot be resolved by Traffic signalisation alone. While it will help provide assurance, reliability and greater safety for all road users, only significant new infrastructure such as the Ten-T Project and others can hope to resolve the peak time congestion issues within the town.”

Ten-T is a selection of strategic transport corridors throughout the European Union that have been identified to play a key role in the mobility of goods and passengers. Three sections of the Ten-T network in Donegal have been prioritised for improvement and together, they form the Ten-T Priority Route Improvement Project, Donegal: Section 1 (N15/N13 Ballybofey/Stranorlar Urban Region); Section 2 (N56/N13 Letterkenny to Manorcunningham) and Section 3 (N14 Manorcunningham to Lifford/Strabane/A5 Link).