Closure of Herbert Road Junction In Bray Confirmed To Facilitate Bus Corridor

The plans are contained in the Options Selection Report for the N11/M11 Bus Priority Interim Corridor, which was recently presented to members of Bray Municipal District.

The move comes despite thousands of objections to the measure by local residents.

The report compiled by Wicklow County Council, TII and ARUP has been split into three subsections which contain the following recommendations.

Sub Scheme A recommendations

• Hard shoulder Bus Priority
• Bus priority signalling at J5 southbound

Sub Scheme B recommendations

• Hard shoulder bus priority southbound
• Minor Junction/direct access closures incl Silverbridge, Dargle Lane, R117m Herbert Road
• Active travel facilities
• One way service road (Kilmac northbound and J7 to J6)
• Major upgrade of J7 (Bray South)

Sub Scheme C

• Hard shoulder bus priority northbound
• Minor junction/direct access closures
• Active Travel facilities

In a statement Sinn Féin Councillor and Cathaoirleach Dermot ‘Daisy’ O’Brien said;

“It feels like this proposal seeks to purposely close an artery into Bray as a means of prioritising bus journeys for people outside of Bray. It is very hard to reconcile the value of a decision like this, especially when over a thousand submissions and 4500 signatures on petitions expressed the strong opposition of the people of Bray during the consultation.

It’s important to point out that there are no question marks about the commitment of Bray Municipal District to tackle the traffic and transport challenges in the town which can be clearly seen by the establishment of a formal Committee to give that issue the attention it deserves. What there are question marks about is the degree to which the latest proposals for this scheme are fully considering the impact on the people of Bray and as such the elected members at the Municipal District meeting unanimously agreed to seek a pause and full review of the scheme.”