Road users advised to work from home to avoid traffic

As heavy traffic congestion continues across Belfast city centre, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has asked people to work from home one day per week.

The road network is over capacity and traffic congestion could be reduced by walking, cycling, taking public transport or working from home, the department has said.

Alongside these measures the DfI are looking at road engineering measures, public transport interventions and providing the public with information.

“There isn’t the physical space to try and put as many vehicles down these roads as possible so… the answer is to get more people onto public transport or to walk or cycle,” Colin Woods from the DfI told the BBC.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show, Mr Woods responded to queries on various road closures across the city.

“If people would use public transport or work from home one day a week even, you would start to see significant reductions in congestion,” he said.

Durham Street

“I have acknowledged that the closure of Durham Street has had a significant impact on traffic and so we have taken a number of actions to try and make changes where we can.”

Mr Woods said investments, such as Belfast Grand Central Station, were what would make a material difference to traffic congestion.

He described the new station as a “game changer” and said it was “precisely the sort of investment that is needed” when considering long-term solutions.

Sydenham Bypass

Mr Woods said the department was concerned that the Sydenham Bypass would need “emergency closures” over the winter if the work did not go ahead this year.

“We have delayed that work from previous years precisely because we wanted to try and avoid the traffic impact, but this year we did not believe we could wait,” he said.

“We will always act where we think it is necessary from a structural integrity perspective of the road and to protect safety.”

Mr Woods accepted it was challenging but said the department kept the closure to weekends.

Grosvenor Road

Road users are now unable to turn left from Great Victoria Street on to the Grosvenor Road.

Mr Woods explained this was a “pedestrian safety” issue as the department had to remodel the junction “to cope” with the numbers of pedestrians leaving Belfast Grand Central Station.

He noted it was under “close” review and that there were other routes onto the Westlink.

Dublin Road

When asked why the lanes on the Dublin Road were reduced from four to one, Mr Woods said some of the measures had been in place for a long period of time.

He said the cycle lane was introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to create “safe cycle routes for people”.

Mr Woods added that an additional bus lane was added to the road so that if there was congestion, buses could still travel along Great Victoria Street and through Shaftesbury Square.

There is now parking, a cycle lane, bus lane and a lane for general traffic.

Road engineering measures, such as:

• Traffic flow helped on Great Victoria Street by taking out a “loop”
• A yellow box on Great Victoria Street at the end of Glengall Street has been removed
• Sequencing of the junctions around Grosvenor Road, Fisherwick place and Great Victoria Street have been changed

Public transport interventions, including:

• Sprucefield Park and Ride services have been increased at peak times
• Buses moved away from temporary stops on Bedford Street
• Working with the police to stop blockages of yellow boxes

Providing the public with information on traffic conditions through:

• Traffic Watch NI website
• Traffic Watch X account

At peak busy times, such as the evening rush hour, Mr Woods said there was 10-15% of over capacity on the road network.

“The best advice I can give is to think carefully about our journey choices, if we can take the train or bus, or walk or cycle into Belfast city centre,” he said.

“If we do need to drive, and many people do for all sorts of reasons, try and avoid travelling at peak times or stagger our journeys because if there are fewer vehicles on the road the traffic will flow better.

“The other main thing is that if we are driving please don’t block junctions or yellow boxes because they are there for a reason.”

Mr Woods said a car share initiative could be part of transport policy in the future but it would not solve the current traffic congestion issues.