Business down 30 per cent in Blackwater Retail Park since new road opening

Fears that traffic problems around the Kells Road in Navan and its junction with the new road are seriously impacting business, particularly in the Blackwater Business Park have been expressed by local representatives and traders.

Last week's meeting of Navan Municipal Council heard that business was down 33 per cent in the retail park since the opening of the new LDR4 road and councillors spoke of 20 minute waits to get out of the business park.

Local businessman Alan Reilly of Chemist Warehouse in Blackwater Park said the new traffic arrangements and light sequencing was impacting inflow into the business park."People have difficulty getting in, but there are huge delays getting out and people are avoiding the area.There is a huge backlog of traffic coming from the Kells direction.

"We are a new business, so we had been experiencing significant growth but we have had a decline in the last few weeks.

"This is the busiest time of year, a critical time for business as it has a huge influence on the financial year. It couldn't have come at a worse time," he said.

At last week's Municipal Council meeting, manager Martin Murray said while the problem was being looked at there was “no quick fix”.

"We are very conscious of the situation. We are constantly monitoring it. There had been significant changes in the pattern of vehicle movements in Navan. The entrances coming in from north to south now have huge capacity."

He said they needed to manage the distribution of some of the traffic using the new junction. "There is a particular problem on the Kells Road we are currently examining. There is no quick fiix. We are looking at possible modifications and if we can get the volume of traffic back to the other junctions, we can give the Kells Road more signal time."

He stressed that the junction was designed for the safety of pedestrians.

The Mayor Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said that all the councillors had representations from the business park, where business was 33 per cent down.

"The Kells Road seems to be the biggest problem. I went there to watch traffic movements and 70per cent of the traffic from the Kells Road turns right and heads up towards the M3 and Trim Road retail park. Is it possible to rearrange the situation to allow traffic to come out of that park and move freely into Navan and out the Dublin Road direction.

"I'm sure that Bus Eireann’s schedules were being affected by the traffic problems," he said.

Cllr John Duffy said it was coming close to Christmas and people expected some easing of the traffic situation. He had spoken to someone who was not able to get into Blackwater Retail Park because of traffic problems. "She had waited 20 minutes but then had to drive on. "

Cllr Emer Toibin said a man told her of waiting 30 minutes to get out of the car park. "The pedestrian crossing should have been placed “a good 80 metres from the roundabout”.

Cllr Eddie Fennessy said there were 27,500 vehicle movements through that area every day since the new junction opened. "The vehicles were moving feely when the roundabout was in place. There have been tailbacks from the new junction out to Newgate, the Fire station and halfway up the Athboy Road."

Cllr Francis Deane said there had been great relief for traffic coming in from the Slane Road where previously there had been “chaos”.

Cllr Alan Lawes said every councillor had received representations on the traffic issues. "I'm not sure if sequencing the traffic lights will help at this stage.

"We don't want businesses coming to us in the New Year, saying they had a disastrous Christmas."

He was not sure what could be done in the very short time before Christmas. "I'm hoping the manager could “come up with a magic wand”.

Cllr Yemi Adenuga said;"It is coming close to Christmas and we don't want businesses suffering any more than they are are already."