In Chapelizod, residents increase pressure on council to tackle traffic

The queue at the traffic lights in Chapelizod was 20 cars deep snaking north-west up Main Street towards Martin’s Row.

At the junction with Chapelizod Road, a car swung slowly around the corner by Mullingar House and past the front of St Patrick’s National School.

It was pick-up time on Friday, and grown-ups peered over the big stone wall down into the school yard, waiting for their kids to turn out.

The driver edged forward, blocking the crossing from the school gates over the road, as the green man lit up. Ahead, bumpers stretched westwards over the Anna Livia Bridge.

In all directions, cars.

On 19 February, representatives from seven local groups wrote to Dublin city councillors to call for meaningful progress towards dealing with traffic issues in Chapelizod village and asking for three specific changes.

In December, Dublin City Council traffic engineers had said they would look at quick wins to improve safety. Local groups said in the letter that they wanted to hear what had come of this.

Dublin City Council hasn’t responded to queries set on Tuesday afternoon, asking what progress had been made on that.

Years back, community groups had to get out and block traffic to get one of the traffic signals that is now in the village, said Peter Kavanagh, who is the chair of the Chapelizod Tidy Towns, and one of the letter’s signatories.

If there isn’t a change before the next school term starts, he is ready to repeat that, he says. “We’ll have to shut the road again.”

A safer route for cyclists and pedestrians through Chapelizod Village is on the council Active Travel Unit’s programme of future projects – part 4.7km Chapelizod Road to Chapelizod Bypass project.

But they don’t plan to look at that for at least two years, says Ray Cunningham, a Green Party councillor.

The council’s Active Travel Unit  has also said that it is too complex for them to take that on alone and, given the knock-on impacts on the wider road network, any plan needs buy-in and cooperation from several bodies, said Cunningham.

Cunningham wants a body or forum to take ownership of a traffic plan for Chapelizod village, he said. “Who is going to take ownership of the change? If it is too big for Active Travel, who should do it?”

Crossings and one-way streets

“You can’t really cross up there,” said Imelda Hall outside St Patrick’s National School, at a little before 3pm on Friday.

She points down through the village towards the junction on the other side of the bridge. Drivers block the pedestrian crossing there too.

As she sees it, there needs to be a traffic warden with a sign, said Hall, who is waiting to pick up her kids. “Other than that, I don’t know.”

Kavanagh, of Chapelizod Tidy Towns, said that school zones are a part of the solution to traffic dangers. “That’s badly needed.”

But the schools haven’t been allocated funding for that yet as they missed the applications for past rounds.

In their letter to councillors, community groups said they had been told they can’t have a lollipop person as it would be too dangerous.

But they listed three changes that they want to see. They asked for pedestrian crossings at all roads in front of both schools in the village.

They also asked for better signage around the schools and confirmation that a speed limit of 30km would come in for Martin’s Row and Knockmarron Hill, the letter says.

Within the council, the Traffic Advisory Group (TAG) deals with standalone traffic changes such as signs, a footpath build-out or a pedestrian crossing, said Cunningham, the Green Party councillor.

It’s unclear what plans TAG has for Chapelizod at the moment.

At a meeting last week of the Chapelizod Steering Group, traffic engineers said they had carried out a speed survey and most cars were obeying the limit, said Cunningham.

The Active Travel Unit, meanwhile, is working to build out its planned network of cycle lanes and greenways, he said.

At the same steering group meeting, the unit outlined its plans for the area, he said.

Staff are working on improvements to two cycle paths, one along Chapelizod Road from just outside the village to Islandbridge, and another through War Memorial Gardens, said Cunningham.

But those are already there, he said, and they’re just improving them. “The dangerous part for any pedestrian and cyclist is the village itself.”

Officials in the Active Travel Unit say they can’t take the stretch through the village alone and that they won’t be able to do anything for a couple of years, he said. “It’s just such a difficult location.”

Changes need the National Transport Authority, the Office for Public Works and Transport Infrastructure Ireland all on board, he says.

It is technically a regional road through Chapelizod, and so needs to take a certain amount of traffic, he said. But a lot of the traffic should be on the bypass, said Cunningham.

He wants an agency to take ownership and say it is their project, he says. It wouldn’t necessarily involve redesigning the village right away, but setting the parameters for any changes, he said.

An NTA spokesperson said on Tuesday that Dublin City Council would be best placed to answer queries about Chapelizod traffic changes.

Possible now?

One move that Cunningham says would help to reduce traffic and also and could be a standalone change, would be a one-way system on Martin’s Row. “If that, at the very least, could be introduced.”

Trialing that was one idea in a 2022 transport study for the area, and listed as a short-term improvement.

Cunningham says he thinks that would involve a turning point into a one-way system at the four-way junction just north of Knockmaroon Hill. “Lots of people using that road aren’t coming from the village, they’re coming from Fingal.”

But one issue around this is that it would take buy-in from Fingal County Council, said Cunningham.

Dublin City Council has been talking to Fingal officials, he said, but he understands that they aren’t yet on board with the idea.

A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said on Tuesday that they had communicated with Dublin City Council officials in March 2024 but haven’t had any contact since.

“At the time, we advised that extensive traffic modelling would be required in relation to the scheme to assess the viability and also the general impact on the surrounding road network,” said the spokesperson.

Cunningham says that he plans to put a motion to the city’s mobility and public realm committee, to agree that Dublin City Council should fund that modelling.

Another issue is whether there is buy-in from local residents who live along and around Martin’s Row.

There are those who don’t want it. Féilim Mac Críosta, who lives on the stretch and volunteers with Blood Bikes East, says he thinks that wouldn’t be a good idea. “It would be a pure shitshow.”

He suggests another smaller move. At night, he hears trailers bouncing along down Martin’s Row, avoiding the double-tarrif of the M50 toll, he says.

There should be clearer signs letting trucks know they shouldn’t head that way, he says.

Drivers could be from anywhere – outside of Dublin, outside of the country – and just following Google Maps, says Mac Críosta.

Kavanagh, of Chapelizod Tidy Towns, says that a one-way system would need much more discussion with those who live along Martin’s Row. “I think consultation needs to be done.”