A reminder to drivers and cyclists to share the road…

Philip O’Neill is a Civil Servant from Belfast and a keen amateur cyclist. Spring has sprung early and is most welcome following a very challenging winter for us all. Along with daffodils, lambs and brighter nights, we now see middle-aged men oiling their chains, pumping their tyres, checking their brakes and seeing if the lycra still fits. As someone who cycles it has to be recognised that there are significant health benefits, not just physical health but getting out into …

Read more…

Video: Discussion with Mark Hackett and Wesley Johnston about the proposals for the York Street Interchange…

In our first Slugger podcast we talk with Architect and Urban Designer Mark Hackett about his alternative proposal for the York Street Interchange project in Belfast. Roads expert Wesley Johnston gives his view on Mark’s ideas. We also have a general discussion about the road network after Covid-19. As Mark did a presentation to explain his ideas we have released this one as a video, but future episodes will likely to be audio. The idea for the York St Interchange was …

Read more…

Would you prefer faster roads or faster broadband?

How are you getting on with the great work from home experiment? I have worked from home for most of my career so it is nothing new for me but I realise it will be a novelty for most of you. Your experience will vary greatly depending on if you have young kids or not. With our 4-year-old, I find it is next to impossible to get any work done while homeschooling and childminding. Whatever teachers get paid they should …

Read more…

Coronavirus: A chance to reshape our roads for the future…

https://i1.wp.com/bikefast.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/belfast_road_diet.jpg?resize=854%2C534

Jonathan Hobbs is a cycling campaigner from Belfast The coronavirus pandemic has affected life in Northern Ireland in unprecedented ways. Thousands have becoming infected and hundreds have died, devastating families and communities. Lockdown has changed how go about daily business in ways that we would have thought unbelievable at the start of 2020. One of the very few positives to emerge has been the general outdoor environment, especially in my city Belfast. Vehicle traffic is almost non-existent compared to normal. …

Read more…

The £400m for Infrastructure in the Conservative-DUP agreement will only exacerbate Northern Ireland’s east-west divide

Northern Ireland’s infrastructure has drawn the prize ticket from the £1bn of new money in the Conservative-DUP deal – securing £400m, or 40% of the entire fund. This has been greeted with criticism elsewhere in the UK, but can be justified on two grounds. Firstly – Northern Ireland arguably has the worst infrastructure of any region in the UK. Only significant external funding will reverse the decades-long under-investment that has caused that. Secondly – the situation is worse still within …

Read more…

So what can we do with £400million for infrastructure projects?

With thanks to my good friend Wesley Johnston, whose inestimable website is the source for any intelligible figure I can find to help me write this article… I was at the official opening of the A26 two weeks ago, and I think that there is definitely an appetite to get York Street Interchange sorted out – but the next scheme to hit the ground was always going to be the sole decision of the Minister and the Executive rather than …

Read more…

All I want for Christmas is a better road to Belfast

As a Saffron now living west of the Bann all I really want for Christmas is the upgrading of the A6. Which Christmas though? Being a heavy commuter of some years I know how hours spent in a car with just coffee and bad podcasts can affect quality of life, time spent with family and general health and wellbeing. Public transport with WiFi helps but any time that can be knocked off bus or car journey times would be a …

Read more…

What would it take to get a motorway to Derry/Londonderry? – Guest post by Wesley Johnston

Back in 1964 William Craig, the Minister of Home Affairs for Northern Ireland, announced an ambitious plan to build a network of motorways around the province. In terms of the North West, the core of the plan was a motorway from Belfast to Coleraine – the M2. From this would come two spurs. The M22 would diverge at Antrim and go to Castledawson, serving Mid Ulster. The M23 would diverge north of Ballymena and go to Londonderry, via Limavady. At …

Read more…

Northern Ireland’s roads remain safe: possibly not at 111mph

Some good news was published by both the BBC and News Letter yesterday. There were 59 deaths on the roads in Northern Ireland last year, a rise from 55 the year before, but still vastly lower than in the past. Prior to 2010 the lowest number of deaths was in 2008 at 107. As the News Letter notes it is sometimes seen as distasteful to celebrate a reduction in deaths when people are still being killed but the reality is …

Read more…

UK road deaths

The BBC has a fascinating feature at the moment on is web site covering every death on the UK’s roads (it says GB but we are included too – please do not side track this one). A number of interesting things come too light from looking at Northern Ireland’s fatal accidents. Our motorways are extremely safe. Considering that the M1 and M2 are amongst the most heavily used roads in Northern Ireland there are remarkably few deaths. This of course …

Read more…

Closing hospitals and the ‘ungovernability’ of Roscommon…

The people of Roscommon are a formidably independent bunch. They are under no illusions why they send TDs to Dublin. It is to defend the parish from the cutehoors and Jackeens of Dublin: no more; no less. No one puts the least store in the county council, since Jack Lynch had their teeth removed back in 1977. Sure there are concerns about the state of nation and the knock on effects that has for the local economy, but their TDs …

Read more…

Edwin Poots’ proposals on driving

The BBC are covering Edwin Poots consultation paper on driving and changes especially to the rules for younger drivers: the department’s press release is here. The proposals are wide ranging and there is much of significant merit in it: however, it is also something of a curate’s egg and there are potential problems in some of the proposals which might produce further problems by the laws of unintended consequences. Looking at some of the proposals in the consultation: Raising the …

Read more…

Bullshit, and joined-up government…

Some four weeks after the departmental allocations were agreed and all Northern Ireland Executive departments have, to a greater or lesser extent, finally published their spending plans.  Don’t worry, though.  There’ll be an extra week of that public consultation… Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, is complaining that the UK Treasury has “swiped” £300million of NI departments’ yearly underspend – rather than allowing it to be drawn down in the subsequent year. The NIO has issued a statement …

Read more…

Terror in Tyrone – White Elephant Alert.

Recently there have reports of a large white elephant surveying the landscape across a large swathe of the centre of Tyrone, it is believed the creature has strong intentions of making its presence a permanent feature of this region. It is accepted that some of the local residents would openly welcome such a prestigious neighbour and others, who have escaped any direct contact to date, seemed little concerned by its presence. However an increasing number have been dismayed by the …

Read more…