Are you trapped in a commuting nightmare?

TRAPPED in housing estates for up to half an hour as they try to commute to work or do the school run is becoming an increasing problem for some Southsiders, a new survey has revealed.

The desperation of commuters on the Southside, who face a daily battle just to get out of their gridlocked housing estates, has been highlighted in the new survey conducted by Cllr Paul Foley, who claims it has gone “viral” since he launched it just last week.

While the Templeogue-Terenure councillor acknowledges all of Dublin is suffering from an increase in traffic, he has found that, on any given morning and again in the evening, “most” of Ballycullen, Knocklyon, Firhouse and Rathfarnham is stuck in traffic gridlock.

“In one instance, frustrated drivers can actually see the M50 from their estate just 500 metres away, although it could take them 30 minutes to get there,” Cllr Foley said.

“They are effectively trapped in housing states located on these small boreen roads that were never built for the demand now placed on them.

“The survey has obviously struck home with people because I’ve never seen such a reaction before.

“People can really relate to this issue as they endure a daily battle alongside their neighbours to just get out of their estates.

“It is having a negative impact on people’s quality of life.

People cannot get out of their estates, people cannot get to the local schools, people cannot get on to the M50,” he added.

“I need the evidence gathered from the public to support the claims that this traffic needs urgent attention. In order to gather this evidence, I have developed a survey.”

The survey (www.surveymonkey.ie/r/localtrafficgridlock) is linked to the councillor’s Facebook page that has received dozens of replies from people who have been enduring similar issues to those that have been highlighted.

“Survey completed, thanks for trying to tackle this Paul,” one person wrote.

“A pretty straightforward suggestion which would be easy to do, would be to put a slip lane for turning left from Ballycullen Drive onto the Ballycullen Road, as traffic has been steadily increasing there.”

Another added: “Cllr Foley, there are estates missing from the survey.

“I'm sure this was just a mistake rather than overlooking us but Dodderbrook is in the area and is certainly effected by this, I feel it should be added to the list.”

Cllr Foley says he will use the survey results to make a detailed submission to the Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly (EMRA) as they are conducting a first-round analysis to discover the areas where infrastructure spend is required going forward.

Cllr Foley warned: “It is my contention that only when the problem is acknowledged that we can then seek to find solutions.

“The area is in a unique position for such an infrastructure spend because much of the lands are, as yet, undeveloped.

“But, If this investment is not made now, the window of opportunity will close and we will never be able to retrospectively apply fixes.”