Before 9am on Monday, Dublin City Council set cones out along a typically busy road on the northside of the city to mark the start of 18 weeks of traffic diversions and restrictions due to construction work.
The roadworks have started to facilitate the construction of a €25 million water main – work that will require the closure of the southbound side of the James Larkin Road (Coast Road) from the junction of Howth Road to Watermill Road.
Traffic is being diverted on to the Howth Road.
The closure is expected to last for 18 weeks – into July – but pharmacist Ross Tully said he was “concerned” there may be delays to this time schedule.
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Tully, who also owns Tully’s Pharmacy on the Howth Road and lives opposite it, said he was made aware of the upcoming road works about three months ago.
He said the Howth Road was already busy before it became a diversion road and finding a parking space could be “tricky” for customers.
“Trying to get access to shop parking is going to be a little bit more difficult; hopefully it’s just during the crunch times,” he said.
He said school drop-off times were “extremely busy”.
However, as secondary schools and some primary schools are off this week for midterm break, he said traffic at about 8.30am on weekdays next week would be the “real test” and that the situation might get “a little bit hectic”.
He said that at 8am on Monday cars were backed up 300m down the road as diversions came into effect, but said traffic was not as bad as he expected.
He described himself as lucky as he lived and worked locally.
“I wouldn’t like to be commuting through the area,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult.”
He said he did not understand why there was not an increase in the intensity of the work given how this stretch of road is “as short as it is” and that it is a “main thoroughfare for Howth and Sutton into town”.
“It’s done abroad – I can’t understand why it isn’t being done here,” he said.
Ruth O’Higgins, who lives on the Howth Road, said she only became aware of the road closures while speaking with a taxi driver last Friday.
She said she believed they would be affected by increasing levels of traffic on the Howth Road due to diversions in place.
“I don’t know if they have anticipated the impact it’s going to have on the residents here. This is much busier than it is normally and the fact that this is a midterm break is concerning,” she said.
Her husband James O’Higgins said the situation was “fine” on Monday because schools were off but it would be “hard to tell what the diversions will be like”.
The couple, aged in their 30s, both work as solicitors.
Ruth O’Higgins said she was “not very happy” the roadworks would be in place for 18 weeks.
Alan Sweetman, a retiree who lives in Raheny village, was out walking his dog when he was asked by The Irish Times for his opinion on the road closure.
He said this was the first time he heard there would be road diversions and restrictions in place in his locality.
He said the Howth Road would usually be very busy at rush hour in the morning and especially in the evening.
“If everything is diverted, it’s going to be twice as bad,” he said.
Orange barriers were set up on the James Larkin Road as a lorry arrived to deliver pipes.
A large electric sign flashed messages telling motorists to follow a diversion and informing them an inbound lane closure was in place from “Causeway Road Junction to Greendale Junction” from “February 16th to July”.
Dublin County Council has been contacted for comment.
