The Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, spoke to The Munster Express when he visited the ongoing North Quays development on 23 January.
Active Travel
As explained in recent weeks, Active Travel is a policy of high priority for the Department of Transport, so much so that an additional €360m of funding was announced for Active Travel and Greenways by Minister O’Brien just four days before his visit to Ferrybank.
Active Travel looks to prioritise pedestrians and vulnerable road users; in practice this means narrowing junctions, slowing traffic in places, building cycles lanes, and redesigning some traffic management systems so pedestrians take priority.
While many people commend the idea in principle, the implementation of these policies has led to a lot of disruption across Waterford City and County, with accounts suggesting many Active Travel designs get little pedestrian use, while traffic builds up around them.
Waterford Councillors are frustrated by the sense that Active Travel projects seem to come from above; yes, they do have workshops and public consultation meetings, but Councillors suggest these are just a box ticking exercises, as they, and the people they represent, get no material input into the projects, many of which involve significant construction works on residential roads.
As Active Travel intentionally slows traffic, and many who commute to and live in Waterford City do not believe public or self-propelled transport is a viable option for their location, the question should be asked if Active Travel, although well intended, has a negative impact on mental health, the economy, and pollution in Waterford?
This question was put to Minister O'Brien.
Q: Active Travel is deliberately narrowing junctions and slowing traffic in Waterford City, do you think Active Travel is bad for mental health, bad for the economy and ultimately creates more pollution?
To which, Minster O’Brien, replied, “Oh no.”
“Active Travel is key to actually providing safe, active, healthy access to school, to work for leisure activities,” Minister O’Brien said.
“We’re investing €360m a year as a government in Active Travel measures right across the country. For leisure activities yes, but things like Safer Routes to school which Waterford is benefiting from here as well, making it easier for our pupils to cycle and walk to school safely, to change people’s habits as well to get people out of their cars and to provide the facilities to make it easier for them to do so.
“Our Active Travel schemes, if you take the Transport Hub here in Waterford [the North Quays], it is a fully integrated bus, rail and Active Travel – cycleways, walkways.
“And that is the way forward,” Minister O’Brien added.
Minster for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, visited the North Quays development in Ferrybank on Friday, January 23, last.
He was accompanied by Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mary Butler, and the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, John Cummins.
The Minsters walked across the new pedestrian bridge in Waterford and toured the North Quay’s Transport Hub. The Munster Express spoke to Minster O’Brien on the day.
AARON KENT
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
