In a new twist to the Sandymount cycle route saga, residents who live on Strand Road are threatening to bring Dublin City Council to court if they do not keep the road one-way to avoid the previous level of noise pollution.
The road was made one-way for through traffic by Irish Water last month for major water main renewal works which are expected to last until the middle of next year.
The Court of Appeal is still examining the councils appeal against the High Court ruling which stopped the council from making the road one-way for a cycle path. The High Court case was won by Peter Carvill, of the Serpentine Avenue, Tritonville and Claremont Roads group, and Cllr Mannix Flynn (independent).
The Irish Times today quoted Simon Coyle, a Strand Road resident saying that the “Armageddon forecast” had not happened after the road was made one-way.
Most observers expected the Irish Water works to be more disruptive than a cycle route which would have offered an alternative to at least some motorists. The temporary one-way system is also the opposite direction than the council’s plan — the council had thought this direction of flow for the one-way system would result in more traffic flowing through Sandymount village.
Coyle is quoted by the newspaper as having said: “There were dire predictions that if Strand Road was restricted, the surrounding streets would be choked with traffic, and we wouldn’t want to impose on anyone else what has been imposed on us, but it hasn’t happened – the traffic has dissipated.”
A group of Strand Road residents have written to the council for action to be taken and for the road not be reverted by to two-way when Irish Water is finished.
The letter from the residents to the council said: “The data shows that noise levels on Strand Road are excessive and undesirable as defined by DCC’s own Noise Agglomeration Policy… The noise levels on Strand Road are in excess of these stated thresholds and pose a serious risk to the health of Strand Road residents.”
“If DCC attempts to return Strand Road to undesirable and excessive noise levels, and based on legal advice we have received, we will have no option but to take legal action to ensure the local authority abides by its own policy, as passed by the elected members,” the letter said.