In common with other major cities, the road network around
Belfast can suffer from capacity issues at peak times and this is
particularly notable on the strategic road network.
Yesterday afternoon a number of collisions occurred across the
city including an 8 vehicle collision on the M1 South bound
between Broadway and Stockmans Lane. This brought traffic to a
standstill. The result of this was long delays back along the M1
and Westlink and onto the M3 and M2. Due to the time of day, this
meant all south bound traffic was attempting to seek alternative
routes through the city centre – resulting in long delays as far
back as Dunbar Link.
The recovery operation took quite some time and again traffic was
brought to a standstill at peak rush hour.
Whilst the recovery operation was in place another road traffic
collision occurred, this time on the M3 Lagan Bridge East bound
which caused delays for traffic approaching from the Westlink and
M2.
Both incidents occurred during the peak rush hour period and the
time required to ensure that emergency services could attend, and
the vehicles could be recovered also had a knock-on effect on
some public transport services.
We understand that traffic delays are frustrating, and we
encourage travellers to avoid the congestion by considering other
sustainable and active modes of travel such as public transport,
using the park and ride sites or by walking or cycling. If you do
travel by car, please plan and leave extra time for your journey
Translink offer a number of discounted and promotional fares and
we would encourage customers to visit the Translink website or
speak to a member of Translink staff for the best options for
their journeys. In addition, the Concessionary Fares Scheme
remains available to provide free and discounted fare travel to
some of the most vulnerable in our society.
We thank the travelling public for their patience whilst these
transformational public realm works are completed.
