Sir, - I suppose it was inevitable that it would take the extension of Quality Bus Corridors (QBCs) to the southside of Dublin to exercise the AA, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, and correspondents to this estimable page. However, northside motorists are more than familiar with the traffic management madness of the QBC which was foisted on Amiens Street/Fairview/Malahide Road almost a year ago.
Long before gridlock was a word in the Irish lexicon, the phenomenon was well known at the country's busiest junction, Fairview, and its approach roads. But now the QBC has simply made the local motorists' lot a total nightmare, and a very dangerous one at that. Here are some of the insane features of this particular QBC.
Leaving town on Amiens Street all traffic, including buses, are compressed into a single lane without any warning at all.
Entire lanes of roadway along each side of Amiens Street and parts of Fairview have been taken out of circulation and converted into - wait for it - additional car parking spaces!
The entire length of the QBC is a maze of on-road squiggles and arrows and unforeseeable lane merges that would be funny as some sort of board game, but which is a downright danger to road users, especially those not familiar with this extraordinary concoction.
Quite simply there is no logic to this carry-on. What is the economic rationale for halving the amount of road space for a rapidly expanding car population while adjoining, oversized bus lanes lie empty for the greater portion of the time? At the very least the calls for allowing cars with either two or three passengers into this privileged territory should be implemented.
Maybe when this deliberately-inspired road chaos is extended to the Stillorgan Road and Donnybrook next month, the ensuing and inevitable outcry will result in a campaign to reverse this traffic management madness. Northside motorists will be more than ready to join in. - Yours, etc.
Stephen O'Byrnes, Sutton, Dublin 13.