Yesterday evening Belfast city centre was particularly busy with
pre-Christmas visitors. While this traffic is typical of this
time of year, unfortunately a number of incidents and events
caused increased traffic congestion across the city. These
included a five car collision on the M2 and a number of incidents
on the M1 country bound including a four car
collision. These all led to a back up of traffic across
the city while recovery operations took place and delays were
further exacerbated by more cars travelling to the city to attend
Disney on Ice at the SSE arena.
The failure in the traffic lights at Ormeau Rd/Ormeau Ave/Cromac
St also added to delays for traffic leaving the city during the
evening peak period. While our contractors did attend yesterday
afternoon to try to repair the lights, they were unable to do so
because of the nature of the fault. The lights were successfully
repaired by 11am this morning.
The Department is continuing to work with partners to undertake a
range of mitigation measures to help ease traffic congestion in
Belfast City Centre. The Department is particularly appealing to
drivers to not block yellow boxes, as this only exacerbates the
congestion.
Consideration of other methods of travel will be key to helping
address the current situation. That is why we have been
encouraging 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.
The less cars on the road, the less congestion there will be, and
therefore, less disruption to public transport timetables.
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.
