Inquiry into handling of N11 emergency repairs

Dublin City Council yesterday began an investigation into the handling of emergency roadworks that caused severe disruption for up to 50,000 commuters on the M50 and N11 routes south of Dublin on Wednesday.

Some drivers reported being delayed for four hours on the route because of repairs being carried out by the council to a broken water main near Bray, Co Wicklow. Traffic was down to one lane on the N11 at Silverbridge, outside Bray, and was backed up all along the N11 southbound.

Both lanes on the N11 reopened late on Wednesday night after emergency repairs there finished, and with traffic levels having returned to normal yesterday, the city council said it had begun an investigation into the problems, including an apparent failure to adequately warn motorists of the potential disruption. "We didn't foresee what was going to happen, and what happened was most unfortunate," said a council spokesman.

"We are now conducting an investigation to prevent a similar situation occurring, and we will be coming up with a strategy for future incidents."

While AA Roadwatch and the Garda had been informed on Tuesday evening of the council's intention to carry out emergency works on the road the next day, there was "no indication of the scale of the problem", according to Conor Faughnan of AA Roadwatch.

"By 11.20am the scale of the disruption became evident . . . By mid-afternoon the delays were appalling and then just got worse and worse," he said.

Mr Faughnan suggested there was a need for an emergency traffic management plan that would come into operation in the event of similar incidents in future.

"I think we have to assess how prepared we are for incidents such as this . . . We need proper liaison between gardaí, the council, ourselves and the media," he said.

"We do have major accident plans in this country - in the event of a disaster, there are contingency plans in place. Maybe we need something like that to deal with traffic disasters."

A consequence of the State's increasingly extensive motorway network was that an ostensibly minor incident on any section of road could cause 10-15km of tailbacks, he added.

Meanwhile, some 1,200 homes in Co Wicklow were without a water supply last night after a second break was discovered in the same water main that broke earlier this week, causing Wednesday's traffic disruption.