Belfast traffic congestion: Closing Boyne Bridge has 'significantly' worsened situation says roads expert
An author with a close knowledge of the Province’s transport network says that the problem of congestion in Belfast has been made “significantly” worse by the recent closure of the Boyne Bridge.
There have been complaints about traffic congestion in Belfast for some time, but they have grown worse recently.
There are a number of roadworks in the city (some of which are due to ease off as Christmas draws near) but it is difficult to say which ones are having the most significant effect.
Most recently and controversially though, Translink closed the portion of Durham Street known as the Boyne Bridge on October 12.
In spite of objections from heritage campaigners, the bridge is due to be flattened as part of the development of the new Grand Central Station, and will be closed for around a year.
And Wesley Johnson believes it is this which has had an especially sharp impact on gridlock in the city, particularly since the authorities started to push more traffic in that direction just a couple of years ago.
"I think Belfast had a high level of congestion anyway – a single accident can snarl everything up,” said Mr Johnston, who runs the webpage NI Roads Site, and who has penned a history of Belfast’s motorway network (‘The Belfast Urban Motorway: Engineering, Ambition and Social Conflict’).
"But I do think closing Durham Street has had a significant impact.
“A few years ago the Department of Infrastructure did some changes to Bruce Street and Hope Street and Durham Street, and encouraged more traffic to go there to get them off Great Victoria Street.
"Now they’ve closed that road completely, which I think has a big, big impact.
"I think the worsening situation we’ve experienced recently probably is linked to that.”
In between the closure of the old Great Victoria Street station from May onwards and the opening of the new Grand Central Station this autumn, a raft of train stations – particularly on the Lisburn line – were shut while work was done rejigging the rails.
That drove some train commuters to drive cars into Belfast instead.
Then, as of September 25, work began on resurfacing the Sydenham Bypass in east Belfast, causing major disruption.
Meanwhile there are at least 18 other sets of roadworks scattered across the city, including at the Westlink/Grosvenor Road, Great Victoria Street, and Ulster University – all three in the city centre.
While transport authorities intend to pause some of the work from late November on, this will not include reopening the still-intact Boyne Bridge ahead of it being dismantled.
"I do keep an eye on this,” said Mr Johnston.
"I look at traffic cameras during the evenings, and see all the congestion happening. I know a guy who knows bus drivers, and they’re saying just how horrendous it’s been over the last week or so.
"There is bus lane on Great Victoria Street which isn’t actually used by any buses currently. So there might be an option of opening one of those lanes to cars, even for a year.”
However cyclists and motorbikes use the bus lane, and there might be some “bad press” for the authorities if that is taken away from them.
“It’s very difficult to see a way out other than just kind of finishing up and reopening the road,” he concluded.