Donegal County Council has been urged to urgently review the new traffic light system on Letterkenny’s Pearse Road before the winter.
The delays stretching from the junction of Pearse Road and Justice Walsh Road are now harming local businesses and the overall image of Letterkenny, local Councillor Gerry McMonagle has warned.
Complaints have been raised about the lights ever since they became operational at the end of May. Despite reviews of the timing of the signals, Cllr McMonagle said that the delays continue to impact many parts of the town centre.
“What are we to do there at Christmas?” Cllr McMonagle asked at the Letterkenny-Milford MD on Tuesday. “It will be shut down jam solid.”
Cllr McMonagle said a two minute journey is now taking between 15 and 20 minutes, and that taxi drivers and delivery drivers are among the worst affected.
Cllr McMonagle said that the council should admit that there are errors and change the system.
“We have three sets of traffic lights, they are not acting together and they are adding to the problem,” he said.
“In the long term if we allow it to continue, it is going to be a bigger cost to this town.”
Cllr McMonagle said he acknowledged that the lights were put in place for safer crossings and better links to the Main Street, but the traffic problems have “magnified tenfold”.
He has called for a public consultation to take place to provide information for the Letterkenny Transport Plan, which is currently being progressed to address overall traffic issues in the town.
The roads department of Letterkenny-Milford MD is also set to carry out another review to see if any improvements can be made to the signals on Pearse Road.
