Administration Officer
Cork County Council National Roads Office
Richmond,
Glanmire,
Co. Cork.
18th December 2013,
RE: PROPOSAL TO REPLACE SHANBALLY ROUNDABOUT ON THE N28 WITH A SIGNALISED T-JUNCTION.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write in relation to the Part 8 Planning Notice proposing the “replacement of the Shanbally Roundabout on the N28 at Shanbally, Co. Cork, with a signalised T-junction.” The purpose of the proposal, as stated in the Planning Notice, is to “improve facilities for pedestrians and cyclists while increasing vehicular capacity on the N28.”
I write on behalf of the parish community, and at their request, in my capacity as Parish Priest of Monkstown Parish and chairperson of the Board of Management of Shanbally National School. One of the constituent Churches of our parish is the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Shanbally, located immediately adjacent to the present roundabout. This church has proudly served the community of Shanbally since it was first built in 1819. Shanbally National School has operated on its present site, some 70 metres south of the roundabout, since 1954 and currently has an enrolment of 244 pupils. Given the impact the proposed changes are likely to have both on parishioners and the parents, pupils and staff of our school, and the community’s unanimous opposition to same, I wish to make the following points in respect of the proposal. For the purposes of clarity, I will list our concerns at the outset and then develop the substantive issues in relation to each of these in the remainder of my submission:
OBSERVATIONS:
The proposal fails to respect the reality that Shanbally is home to a living vibrant community and reduces it to a transitional point on the N28 which completely ignores it social, cultural and historical significance in the life of the community.
The proposal poses serious safety concerns and seems strangely at odds with the recommendations of international safety studies and transport authorities which cite the safety benefits of roundabouts as compared to signalised junctions.
The proposal would cause severe hardship to the local community by way of making school access impossible, severely restricting access and egress from the local Church and significantly curtailing access to public roads from various residential areas.
The stop/go nature of traffic generated by the signalised traffic T- junction will significantly increase pollutants and emissions within the heart of the village and directly impact of the children of the school and parishioners using the Church given that both the school and the Church are immediately adjacent to the junction.
When the Port of Cork last submitted plans for extending a deep-water cargo-handling facility in Ringaskiddy, it was rejected by An Bord Pleanála. The basis of that ruling was that the N28 and the Jack Lynch Tunnel/Dunkettle interchange were inadequate to deal with the large volume of HGVs such a project would generate. Tinkering with the roundabouts at Shanbally and Shannonpark will do nothing to deal with the substantive issues raised by An Bord Pleanala which appear to have been ignored by the Port of Cork which introduced container traffic [despite the previous ruling] in May 2012.
The fact that the proposal makes no reference to the Pfizer roundabout suggests that criteria are not being applied evenly across the board, to the detriment of the community in Shanbally.
1. Impact on the proposed changes on the sustainability of the local community as a living community
The fact that a heavy volume of traffic passes through Shanbally Roundabout each day, serving Ringaskiddy, the Port of Cork, the Maritime College, the Naval Base in Haulbowline and the many industries located in the Ringaskiddy area, should not and must not obscure the fact that the junction occurs within the heart of a living community, namely the community of Shanbally. All the essential services within the local community, namely the local shop, Church, primary school and public house are situated within the immediate environs of the roundabout. This community long predates the local industrial development and the development of the port which has occurred in recent decades and, as such, its needs and concerns must be respected and honoured. From a community perspective the present road/roundabout configuration is much more than a means of transiting or travelling through the village. It constitutes the heart of the community, providing a sense of place, a space where the community experiences and realizes itself as a living community. The current proposal seeks to reduce Shanbally to simply a transitional space rather than the place where the community can be community together, be that in dropping off and/or collecting of their children from school, accessing community worship and services in the Church or being able to avail of the services provided by the local shop and pub. Such moments, and the encounters they generate, are at the heart of any community. The planning notice makes specific reference to the “sustainable development of the area” but by seeking to effectively eliminate the “community space” I have referred to above and the associated moments that such spaces facilitate, the proposal threatens the very viability and sustainability of our local community.
The current roundabout junction also fosters a sense of community by allowing members of the community from any one area to easily and safely access other parts of the community without have to seek to cross the heavily trafficked N28. The proposed T-junction will make it increasingly difficult for areas north and south of the N28 to access each other, obliging them to cross the road at points where there are three lanes of traffic, instead of the safe and easy access currently available via the roundabout. There will be times when Raffeen and the estates in Coolmore and Raheens, for example, will be effectively cut off from each other by the build up of traffic at the proposed T-junction thereby leading to a fragmentation of the community. A community can only survive as a cohesive unit when people from the different areas of the community can easily and safely access one another.
2. Safety Considerations
The ‘National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 672’, prepared in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, makes the following recommendation:
“ Roundabouts should be considered as an alternative for intersections on federally funded highway projects that involve new construction or reconstruction. Roundabouts should also be considered when rehabilitating existing intersections that have been identified as needing major safety or operational improvements.”
It goes on to state that:
“The safety performance of a roundabout is a product of its design. At roundabouts, vehicles travel in the same direction, eliminating the right-angle conflicts associated with traditional intersections. In addition, good roundabout design places a high priority on speed control. Speed control is provided by geometric features, not just by traffic control devices or by the impedance of other traffic. Because of this, speed control can be achieved at all times of day. If achieved by good design, in principle, lower vehicle speeds should provide the following safety benefits:
- Provide more time for entering drivers to judge, adjust speed for, and enter a gap in circulating traffic, allowing for safer merges;
- Reduce the size of sight triangles needed for users to see one another;
- Increase the likelihood of drivers yielding to pedestrians (compared to an uncontrolled crossing);
- Provide more time for all users to detect and correct for their mistakes or mistakes of others;
- Make crashes less frequent and less severe, including crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists;
- Make the intersection safer for novice users.”
The report goes on to detail the reasons for the increased safety level at roundabouts :
- Roundabouts have fewer vehicular conflict points in comparison to conventional intersections. The potential for high-severity conflicts is greatly reduced with roundabout use.
- Low absolute speeds generally associated with roundabouts allow drivers more time to react to potential conflicts, also helping to improve the safety performance of roundabouts. Low vehicle speeds help reduce crash severity, making fatalities and serious injuries uncommon at roundabouts.
- Since most road users travel at similar speeds through roundabouts (i.e., have low relative speeds), crash severity can be reduced compared to some traditionally controlled intersections.
- Pedestrians need only cross one direction of traffic at a time at each approach as they traverse roundabouts (i.e., crossing in two stages), as compared with many traditional intersections. Pedestrian–vehicle conflict points are reduced at roundabouts; from the pedestrian’s perspective, conflicting vehicles come from fewer directions. In addition, the speeds of motorists entering and exiting a roundabout are reduced with good design, increasing the time available for motorists to react and reducing potential crash severity.
Safety effects of roundabout conversions in the United States is summarized in NCHRP Report 572 . Overall, there was an observed reduction of 35% and 76% in total and injury crashes, respectively, following conversion to a roundabout. These values are consistent with results from international studies.
The experience of the community in Shanbally and the safety record of the present roundabout is consistent with these findings. Given that the junction occurs within the heart of the community, in close proximity to a school where almost 250 children attend daily, safety considerations should and must be of paramount importance. The clear evidence available from international studies and experts is that the current roundabout constitutes a far safer option than the signalised T-junction being proposed by Cork County Council.
3. Other advantages of roundabouts over conventional intersections.
In addition to the safety advantages outlined above, NCHRP 672 also details a number of other advantages of roundabouts over conventional intersections:
- Reduces Traffic Delays / Increases Traffic Capacity
Traditional traffic signals usually stop one or more directions of traffic at one time. In roundabouts, all directions of traffic are often kept open and safely flowing. Several Insurance Institute for Highway Safety studies report significantly-improved traffic flow when traditional intersections are converted to roundabouts. A study of three such intersections in Nevada, Kansas and Maryland found that traffic delays were reduced 13-23 percent using roundabouts. Similar studies have shown a reduction of up to 89 percent in vehicle delays in roundabouts.
In the case of the proposed T-junction at Shanbally, the length of the filter lane to take traffic southwards is approximately 37 metres long. This would accommodate 6 cars or a lesser number of HGVs. This will inevitably cause repeated obstruction to the traffic travelling east to Ringaskiddy whenever more than six vehicles are queuing to turn southwards.
- Reduced long-term operational costs
With limited or no electrical costs and lower maintenance costs, operational savings from roundabouts are far lower than the proposed signalised junction. In addition, the service life of a roundabout is much longer than that of traffic signals.
- More environmentally-friendly than traditional intersections due to less vehicle emissions, fuel use and noise.
Many vehicles must wait for the light to turn green in a signalized intersection. While stopped, the vehicle’s exhaust emits more undesirable pollutants and gases into the atmosphere. Because roundabouts often eliminate such stops and improve traffic flow, they also reduce vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. In one study, replacing traffic signals and signs with roundabouts reduced carbon monoxide emissions by 32 percent, nitrous oxide emissions by 34 percent, carbon dioxide emissions by 37 percent and hydrocarbon emissions by 42 percent. Gasoline use is also reduced as traffic moves more efficiently through roundabouts, without the start and stop found at traditional intersections. Studies have shown that fuel savings can be up to 30 percent in roundabouts. Given Cork County Council’s repeated emphasis on the importance of environmental awareness, these environmental factors surely must be taken into account.
- More aesthetically-pleasing than traditional traffic intersections.
Roundabouts provide opportunities for unique community gateways and landscaping/aesthetics. As opposed to traffic lights, roundabouts provide an opportunity for landscape and aesthetic improvements that can enhance and define corridors, community spaces and tourism and help give a unique identity and civic pride to an area.
4. Access to Shanbally National School
The proposal to replace the Shanbally Roundabout with a signalized T-junction will have a detrimental impact on families seeking to safely bring their children to/from school within a reasonable timeframe.
- Access from west of Shanbally:
At present parents bringing their children to school from locations west of Shanbally can drive to the roundabout, go around it, and park safely a distance west of the church in the set-down area on the southern side of the roadway in order to accompany their children to school. In such circumstances children do not have to cross any road but rather can access the school directly by footpath. If a T-junction were to replace the roundabout the only option available to parents west of Shanbally would be to turn southwards at the junction and stop outside the school to leave their children off. However in such circumstances this would mean dropping their child off on the wrong side of the road which is at odds with all safety guidelines for schools. Many parents, particularly those of younger children, would be obliged to park their car whilst accompanying their child safely to the school gate. This would result in inevitable congestion that would have a serious knock on effect on traffic seeking to travel eastwards on the N28. It would effectively prevent further cars from turning southwards at the junction, thereby causing the access lane to quickly fill and causing a bottleneck for traffic travelling east. Indeed it is noteworthy that the plans for this proposal do not even indicate the presence of the school despite its proximity to the junction. Neither do the safety requirements of children travelling to and from school appear to have been given the attention and importance they deserve. As a Board of Management we are seriously concerned that the proposal poses a grave danger to the safety and wellbeing of children attending our school.
- Access from the south
At present parents bringing children to school from the housing estates in Raheens and Coolmore to the south of the junction can safely set their children down in the area of the Church car park by using the entrance to the south of the junction and exiting thereafter via the exit directly onto the N28. Alternatively they can turn west on the roundabout and set their children down in the set down area on the southern side of the road. The proposal to close off the exit to the Church car park will effectively eliminate it as a set down area thereby slowing traffic seeking to access the junction as parents are likely to stop directly in front of the school to drop their children off thereby causing further tailbacks.
- Access from Raffeen
It is difficult to envisage how families from Raffeen will be able to access the school. They will be dependent on the goodwill of drivers, already queued at the lights, to allow them to merge into traffic going east and then will immediately have to depend on other drivers to allow them merge into the access lane for traffic turning southwards. Such a manoeuvre is not only dangerous in the extreme but will also result in a significant hold ups in traffic travelling eastwards on the N28.
The provision of a pedestrian crossing to the west of the junction is of little use to those seeking to bring their children safely to school as there is no provision for parking on the northern side of the N28. This pedestrian crossing will only directly benefit those families living in Ard na Gréine, The Mews and The Orchards on the northern side of the N28. These account however for only 8% of the total school population of Shanbally National School.
The right to an education within the local community is one enshrined in the Constitution of the State. Shanbally National School has sought to protect and serve that right for generations. However the free exercise of that right is ultimately dependent on parents and children being able to safely and securely access the school. The current proposal in no way addresses this issue. It is a serious design flaw and an indictment of the priorities of the design team that scant attention, if any, appears to have been given to ensuring safe access routes that will allow the children of the community to enjoy this basic constitutional right.
5. Impact on the community in Raffeen.
As explained in the previous point in relation to access to the school, the proposed layout of the junction will effectively make it impossible for people in Raffeen to access the school, the Church or the services of the local shop and pub. Moreover it will make it virtually impossible for traffic from Raffeen to turn westwards on the N28 which is required for anyone wishing to access the facilities of the Shamrocks GAA Club which are an integral part of the cultural and social life of the community. Families living in Raffeen or between Raffeen and Shanbally will be effectively be cut off from the life of the village that is their natural community. The fact that there is no footpath on the road between Raffeen and Shanbally makes it inherently unsafe for pedestrian access. Again, little or no consideration seems to have been given to the impact of the proposed changes on local families.
6. The retention of the Pfizer roundabout.
It is notable that the proposals seek to make no changes to the roundabout at the entrance to the Pfizer pharmaceutical plant, located 500 meter to the east of Shanbally. Surely, from a technical point of view, this roundabout presents the exact same traffic issues as the roundabout in Shanbally. Indeed, given that the number of employees working in the plant is a multiple of the total number of families using Shanbally National School and the housing estates south of Shanbally, the disruption caused to traffic on the N28, particularly at peak times associated with the change-over of shifts, is far greater in the case of the Pfizer roundabout than it is in the case of Shanbally roundabout. Traffic exiting the port and travelling westwards on the N28 must yield to traffic exiting from the Pfizer plant. At peak times, which are repeated several times a day at the change-over of shifts, this delay can be considerable. It seems that the same criteria and logic are not being applied to both situations and one can only wonder whether this betrays a skewed priority on the part of the planners. Surely the roundabout at Pfizer presents the same safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists that the proposal purports to address in the case of Shanbally Roundabout. If the Pfizer roundabout is to be retained, then surely the Shanbally roundabout should be retained on the same basis.
7. Reduction of car spaces available for Church Services
The proposal to close the entrance/exit from the Church car park is obviously of grave concern to parishioners who use the Church for worship. By obliging people to enter and exit by a single route it will significantly reduce the space available for parking therein. Moreover, it will make it virtually impossible for a funeral cortege to exit eastwards onto the N28 en route to either Barnahely Cemetery or the Island Crematorium. In such circumstances the only solution would be to seek the services of the Garda Siochána to direct traffic to facilitate the exit from the car park. Given the limited resources available to Garda and the important demands already made on their time, this seems an unwarranted and unnecessary burden to place on them. It also begs the question of the efficacy of the design if such an intervention is required for an eventuality that clearly should have been anticipated. People have worshipped at the Church in Shanbally since 1819 and have every right to continue to do so.
8. Previous ruling of An Bord Pleanála
When the Port of Cork last submitted plans for extending a deep-water cargo-handling facility in Ringaskiddy, it was rejected by Bord Pleanála. The basis of that ruling was that the N28 and the Jack Lynch Tunnel/Dunkettle interchange were inadequate to deal with the large volume of HGVs such a project would generate. The proposed changes at Shannonpark Roundabout and Shanbally Roundabout do nothing to address the substantive issue, namely the inadequacy of current N28 for such a volume of traffic, and tinkering with the aforementioned roundabouts in no way resolves this problem.
The introduction of container traffic from Cork Port since May 2012, despite the ruling of An Bord Pleanála has significantly altered the nature and the character of traffic on the N28 through Shanbally village. The introduction of large volumes of such container traffic through the village was not envisaged when the current road was first developed and clearly the current road has been judged as inadequate for such traffic by An Bord Pleanála. This increased transit of HGVs through our community presents an increased risk both in terms of safety as well as an increase in noise and environmental pollution, all of which impact directly on our community.
9. Methodology of the process involved in the preparation of the proposal.
The process involved in the preparation of this proposal appears to be critically flawed and falls far short of the principles of good governance that one hopes for from our local authorities. A proposal almost identical to the present proposal was rejected almost two years ago. At no stage has the community been consulted as part of the design. You can imagine our considerable surprise as a parish when we discovered that the County Council were proposing to close off one of the entrances to the Church car park without so much as a word to the parish or school authorities. In recent years the European Community has increasingly promoted and fostered the principle of Community Planning, “the process through which public sector organisations work together and with local communities and the voluntary sector, to identify and solve local problems, improve services and share resources.” Such a spirit of dialogue, partnership and openness seems sadly lacking in the process to date and small communities, such as ours in Shanbally, all too often seem to be the ones to pay the price for such a failure.
The community in Shanbally and Ringaskiddy have unanimously voiced their strident opposition to these proposals at a number of public meetings and will continue to oppose them into the future. The substantive issues underlying the traffic problems in the area cannot be solved by ill-conceived interim measures such as those that have been proposed that would have a detrimental impact of the quality of community life in our parish. Indeed, given An Bord Pleanála’s ruling with respect to Cork Port and the fact that a similar proposal has been rejected by local area councillors less than two years ago, one can only wonder as to whose interests and needs are driving the current proposal which flies in the face of those democratic decisions. It certainly is not in the best interests of the local community. The present roundabout at Shanbally has provided and continues to provide an effective means of controlling traffic in a way that is safe, facilitates the easy flow of traffic and respects both local traffic and commercial and industrial traffic equally. In the circumstances we believe that it provides the best possible solution to traffic management for Shanbally.
I also wish to note, that together with school and community representatives, I met with Mr Noel Murtagh of the National Roads Authority on the 18th December 2013. In the course of this meeting we raised many of the issues I have detailed above. None of the amendments or alternations that Mr Murtagh suggested at that meeting in any way assuage our grave concerns concerning the current proposal. Mr Murtagh made repeated reference in that meeting to the volumes of traffic using the various routes in and through Shanbally village. However the data he provided referred only to average traffic flow. Such data is misleading in this instance as the traffic issues associated with Shanbally are periodic and occur only in pulses at peak times associated with school traffic and the changeover in shifts in local industries. Despite Mr Murtagh’s reassurances in respect of ‘traffic modelling’ carried out by the NRA, we remain fundamentally opposed to the current proposal. The community does not need ‘traffic modelling’ because it experiences the reality of traffic flow in Shanbally every day. From a community point of view, a view overwhelmingly endorsed at various public meetings, we believe that the current roundabout system, for all its supposed technical deficiencies, works well and the community sees no reason why it should be changed.
I thank you for the time and consideration that I trust you will afford these observations.
Yours sincerely,
Fr Seán O’ Sullivan
Parish Priest, Monkstown Parish.
Chairperson, Board of Management, Shanbally National School.
Tel: 021-4863267
Email: sean.osullivan@corkandross.org