Brennan sees signs of improvement

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, insisted today he does "not feel vindicated" by Dublin's new road signs, which were changed from the original designs at his insistence.

Mr Brennan also denied rumours of a rift between his Department and the City Council over the signs.

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan and the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Royston Brady, inspect the new Dublin orbital road signs

When the directional signs were originally proposed by Dublin City Council last summer, Mr Brennan ordered them to be redesigned as he felt they were confusing.

He said he arrived back to Dublin Airport from a foreign trip and almost got lost on his way back into the city centre by following their directions.

The cost of redesigning, constructing and re-erecting the new signs was not revealed, but estimates have put the total at as much as €200,000.

Speaking at the ceremonial hanging of one of the new signs this afternoon, Mr Brennan said the new signs were "cleaner, simpler, neater and more informative". He insisted they would greatly improve navigation for both Dubliners and tourists alike.

Asked if he felt vindicated, Mr Brennan answered: "That's not a word I'd use. I'm just really pleased with the way [the new signs] they look.

"The old signs, you really couldn't follow them," he said, adding that he had approved the new system for all 34 city and council authorities to use in their own traffic management projects.

Under the new system there will be two orbital routes, an inner and an outer, around the city centre. Each of the 52 junctions on these routes are numbered, with the signs indicating which junction the motorist is at and directions to national and regional routes and motorways.

The main changes from the old signs are the fact that names as well as numbers are shown, and they will have either a purple (outer) or blue (inner) background, depending on which orbital the motorist is following.

"Restriction" signs, such as no left turn, no right turn etc., have also been removed and a limit of seven items will be on the sign compared to the previous 12. Maps are available from the City Council.