Interim bus priority for N11-M11 to enable use of hard shoulders

A new traffic management scheme for the N11-M11 in north Wicklow and south Dublin is to use the road’s hard shoulder for a bus priority scheme.

The preferred option for dealing with severe, peak-hour congestion on the main route into Dublin from counties Wicklow and Wexford — and out again in the evening — is to go on public display from Tuesday.

Efforts to alleviate traffic congestion on the N11-M11 route had initially focused on the creation of a third lane to the existing dual carriageway and motorway sections between Junction 4 on the M11 near Shankill, and Junction 14 near Ashford, Co Wicklow.

Controversially, options being looked at included putting the third lane through the Glen Of The Downs or a new motorway route closer to Delgany village. However, that scheme was effectively put on the back burner by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and the latest update on the project website is dated January 2022.

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Now Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Wicklow County Council as well as Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority have devised an N11-M11 Bus Priority Interim Scheme

Councillors at Monday night’s meeting of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council were told the extent the N11-M11 bus priority scheme now covers only the route from Loughlinstown roundabout in Shankill in the north as far as Junction 9 Glenview in the south.

Non-statutory consultation

Consultants Arup told the councillors that non-statutory consultation would be launched with a public display event to be held in the Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs, on Tuesday.

Councillors were told a preferred option for the provision of bus priority measures for parts of the route had been identified. While it was unusual for bus priority schemes to use hard shoulders, the use of them for buses in this case would not preclude the use of hard shoulders by broken-down vehicles, as was normal elsewhere.

The public display will present the overall preferred option for the scheme in several sections. It involves the closure of some minor roads accessing the main N11-M11 and the provision of traffic lights at the Killarney Road roundabout on the access route to Bray.

Submissions will be accepted until Friday October 13th.