Traffic flow problems may hit Letterkenny Christmas shopping plans claims councillor Michael McBride

Fears that roadworks and traffic flow problems might put a damper on upcoming Christmas shopping trips to Letterkenny were aired at Tuesday's meeting of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District.

Independent councillor Michael McBride called on the council to carry out an urgent review of traffic flow in Letterkenny before the Christmas shopping rush. His motion was seconded by Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh.

He was told a  number of projects are being developed and progressed to improve traffic management in Letterkenny. A workshop is being arranged with councillors to discuss the traffic issues and provide an update on these projects.

It added that the traffic management of all ongoing road projects in the town will take into account the increased traffic levels prior to Christmas and will coordinate to minimize disruption.

Cllr McBride said they had a discussion at a workshop which included members of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce about the four-lane development and traffic lights around the town.

"The traffic has been nothing short of diabolical around the town over the past few weeks. If the word gets out there people will avoid Letterkenny. If Letterkenny is like this for the holiday and shopping season people will choose to go to the North. If it's within our power we need to do everything that we can to make sure traffic is moving in this town and that a positive message goes out that the town is open for business for Christmas. This just has to happen."

He added they needed to look at every single junction and deal with problems. He pointed out the traders told them at the workshop that between 35% to 40% of turnover happened between the middle of November and the end of the January sales for certain businesses in town.

"We can't get this wrong. When you see the backlog of traffic that has been in the town and multiply it by the number of vehicles that are going to be coming in to do their Christmas shopping then you are going to have tailbacks out past the Golf Course Road, out the dual carriageway and tailbacks to the Mountain Top because the town is going to be in gridlock if we don't get it right," he claimed.

Cllr McBride said he was optimistic that the new four-lane entry to the town will work during this period and suggested the council liaise with the gardaí so if pressure did come on they could have plans in place to deploy gardaí to various traffic pressure points.

"We also have to make sure people can get in and out of the various car parks and not be halted by tailbacks. We have to be on the ball daily to ensure we get this right. We have to be proactive," he added.