I know we’ve all been told over and over again that the recession is over and to be honest I thought it was all just a ply to keep us plucking away (remember the old donkey and carrot trick?). However, lately the powers that be must have something up their sleeve because most of the roads leading into the city center around the Dublin 8 area are being redone and it’s not a bad job if I say so myself. So it got me wondering, why? At first I thought this may be a subtle way of installing water meters but I now believe it is more than that.
What I have noticed is that all the roads that are being enhanced at present are main transport conduits surrounding or leading into St James Hospital, the place that in four years time will be the site of the new Children’s Hospital, though that’s four Irish years (remember the m50?). The major development in the hospital married with the building of other large scale apartment complexes, distilleries, NCAD’s student accommodation
I don’t know why but at the back of my mind I keep hearing the fabulous line from Back to the Future “Roads, where we’re going we don’t need roads” but my fondness for legendary 80s movies aside, we are a long way from the hoverboard and we do need roads. So off I went and contacted every TD in the area, local TD Aengus O Snodaigh came back to me and in fairness, he did his research.
Time Frame for Completion:
- The Works are due to be completed by Christmas 2014 (a delay of several months on the expected deadline).
- The Cost and who is funding the Scheme:The Tendered Cost of the Works is €2,173,500.57 (excl. VAT), and the Scheme is being 100% funded by the National Transport Authority.
- The purpose of the Works.The Thomas Street / James’s Street QBC Enhancement Scheme comprises the retrofit of approximately 1km of bus lanes, at Thomas Street and James’s Street, Dublin 8 (i.e. from Cornmarket in the east, to Steven’s Lane in the west) with associated improvements to facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
Remember Drivers: Street works to the road surface of James Street and Thomas Street between Bow lane West and Bridgefoot Street will continue Tues, Wed and Thurs evenings of this week with diversions in place from 19.00hr to 06.00hrs each night. The work is confined to the outbound (southside) carriageway and follows on from the previous two weeks work. The work is dependent on weather.
I know they have been a nuisance but at least there is work being done in the area and real jobs being created, so who knows maybe these are The Roads from Ruin?
For more info on the plans check here
