Major road projects in the State’s national development plan will have to address vulnerable road users following a jump in the number of fatalities, a committee has been told.
Peter Walsh, chief executive of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), told the Oireachtas transport committee that deaths among vulnerable road users has risen during the pandemic.
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of people using alternative transport methods across Ireland because of Covid-19 restrictions on public transport.
Mr Walsh said it will need to be addressed in a number of projects as part of the Government’s National Development Plan (NDP).
The NDP, which is due to run until 2030, has pledged almost 116 billion euro on transport projects across the country, water treatment and energy for the future.
Mr Walsh told the committee that it has recently concluded the latest road safety strategy.
He said that while fatalities on the transport network are down, deaths among vulnerable road users have gone up during the last period.
Mr Walsh did not provide these figures to the committee.
“We are now heading into a period where active travel is being very much encouraged,” he added.
“People around my age and probably younger are getting on electric bikes. We are going to have to address that in a very proactive way in our projects.
“That may not change the specific nominated projects, but the manner in which we develop the designs, I think we will have to address vulnerable road users in way that we hadn’t really addressed previously.”
He also told the committee that progression of projects through the planning approval process has become slower in recent years.
“The time spent in the planning process and the judicial review process has extended the delivery timeline for some projects by several years,” he added.
“The restrictions required to combat the spread of Covid-19 have further interrupted the planning and judicial processes.”
The committee heard that in 2018, the NDP mandated the progression of 43 major projects which would address deficiencies in the national road network across 29 local authorities.
Since then, three have been completed.
Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer said there has never been a greater need to provide investment for areas outside of Dublin.
Anne Graham, chief executive officer at the National Transport Authority, said there is a need to counterbalance investments in cities, towns and villages outside Dublin.
Mr Walsh also said that there has been a “very significant” emphasis on improving regional accessibility in all of its projects.
“The emphasis within the current NDP is very much one that produces enhanced regional accessibility and identifies the areas that didn’t get the benefit of connectivity in previous development plans,” Mr Walsh added.
“We would see a continued need to support development of urban areas outside of Dublin by enhancing the connectivity between them and largest market in the country, being Dublin.
“We don’t chose any one of them above the other.”
