Pressure on council to resolve n2 lights delays

A call on Meath County Council to find a solution to traffic delays on the N2 at Primatestown has been made by Cllr Claire O’Driscoll.
She said that tailbacks at the Primatestown traffic lights are adding between 10 and 20 minutes to journey times at peak hours. “I raised this as an issue at the Ashbourne municipal district meeting in September and was advised that resequencing of the lights would be considered,” she said.
However, only this week, correspondence received by Cllr O’Driscoll from one frustrated daily N2 commuter stated: “I know that heavy traffic in the morning cannot always be helped; however, on my morning journey to work in Swords, this is the only place where the traffic is at a standstill. The frustrating thing is that when I reach the lights at Primatestown there is no queue of traffic in any direction except heading towards Ashbourne. It is the same on the return journey home in the evenings - traffic is only backed up in one direction.”
Cllr O’Driscoll added: “That same gentleman has found that by avoiding the N2 and travelling on regional roads, he is saving between six and 16 minutes each way. By not acting on this issue people are finding their own solution and, in effect, people are being encouraged to leave our national roads and travel on narrow link roads.”
She said the issue of traffic delays at Primatestown is not a new one, but as more and more people return to work, it is likely that the problem will only escalate.
“Time is of a premium for those who commute and the onus is on us as a council to address these delays for motorists. Adjusting the sequencing of the lights may help, but a longer-term engineering solution is required,” she said.