FURIOUS commuters demanded answers of the NRA, the City Council and gardai today after they experienced never-before-seen traffic delays of more than three hours and more in parts of the city last night.
Motorists on the N40 South Ring Road encountered some of the longest delays as flooding forced theclosure of the left lane of traffic past Junction 10 at Mahon with gardaí describing the resulting situation as pandemonium.
One of the traffic queue in Cork last night. Picture: Dan Linehan.
Problems started building from 4pm with tail backs still being experienced until after 8pm. When motorists heard of the tailbacks heading eastwards towards the tunnel, they opted to turn towards the city at the Kinsale Road Roundabout which caused a backlog from the South Link.
Many then opted to try alternative routes through the suburbs with Blackrock and Douglas becoming completely gridlocked.
Taking to social media in their hundreds drivers described the situation as ‘horrific’ and a ‘disgrace’. One person had a three hour wait to access the Jack Lynch Tunnel from the Kinsale Road; another left Ballincollig at 4.30pm and got to the tunnel at 7pm; another driver had a two hour wait to get from Wilton to the tunnel.
Sean O’Neill spokesperson for the NRA said this morning they had no option but to close the lane approaching the tunnel due to flooding. “We were dealing with rising river levels, significant water runoff from the land and excessive rain. These combined to flood the lane and the timing of the event was absolutely terrible. It shows how critical the N40 is and similar to the M50 in Dublin if something bad happens on it then the entire region is affected.”
@aaroadwatch some flooding approaching Jack Lynch Tunnel, traffic down to one lane for 100m. Traffic building 15mins pic.twitter.com/SnLeV9y8eL
— Alan Jones (@alanjones81) December 3, 2015
Mr O’Neill said they are getting ready for more heavy rain today and over the weekend.
“We have a team in place today and over the weekend who can better manage the situation directly. We will be holding a post mortem on the issue to see if we can avoid a repeat occurrence or if any additional engineering measures are required but these could take time,” he said.
A garda spokesperson at Anglesea Street garda station described the situation as “pandemonium” confirming that while gardaí were dispatched to investigate the situation, they were unable to rectify the problem due to its nature.
“If there is an incident such as a collision or an unusual traffic situation were can fix it.
“The problem is that unfortunately when there is a massive downpour we have to wait for it to abate.
http://twitter.com/MyraHayes/status/672445417536290816/photo/1
“If the South Ring Road is down to one lane then it becomes mayhem. Once traffic moves onto the ring road they are stuck until they can come off at an exit.
“It’s just one of those things.”
City Council road officials have pointed out that responsibility for the N40 South Ring Road and the Jack Lynch Tunnel is with the NRA, now renamed Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and that City Hall has no input in their management.
“A lane was closed on the N40 which resulted in the delays that sent large volumes of traffic into the city but the City Council has no management role for the South Ring or the Jack Lynch Tunnel,” one senior official said this morning.
Traffic is horrendous in #Cork right now. Pics are from outside Kevin O'Leary motors on the South Douglas Road. pic.twitter.com/1VzF736BrE
— Rob Rudiger (@RobDonkeyPunch) December 3, 2015
Fine Gael City Councillor Des Cahill said a lot of questions needed to be answered as to how a single lane closure could result in the worst traffic Cork has ever seen.
“The flooding of the road began at 10am and it was closed at noon but even then I didn’t see any machinery working on the drains to resolve the issue and they did not move quickly enough to reopen the lane once the flooding had subsided.
“We will be discussing this in City Hall but the NRA needs to come in and explain the situation.
“They are quick to come down to Cork to tell us what we can and can’t do but we really needed them yesterday.
“Yesterday’s traffic also provides us with the clearest example of how important the tunnel is and why tolling it can never be an option.”
“My daughter missed the 7.20pm train to Dublin and only just made the 8.20pm by getting out of the car at Parnell Place and running to the train station.
“The lights were only letting two or three cars through before going red again.”
Many others lamented the fact that they’d miss their appointments with Santa at various locations throughout Cork after getting caught up in the chaos.