I’m not a planner and don’t know how the planning department in local authorities work. I don’t know what qualifications are needed to become a planner but I’m sure that it is a well paid job. Reading the reports about the traffic and congestion the Bridgewater Centre is causing in Arklow, I wondered to myself – did the planners not see all of this coming? When you look at the location of the centre, it’s quite clear to anyone with half a brain that traffic congestion was always going to be a problem. Therefore, the only conclusion that can be reached is that these concerns were not a high priority when set against the economic benefits the centre brings to Arklow.

This is the “price of progress”. It’s the same price of progress that sees people spending up to 20 hours a week stuck in commuter traffic on the N11 and onwards to the M50.

Although I have sympathy with the residents in the immediate vicinity of the Bridgewater centre, I don’t see a solution to their problem. The centre is there now and the traffic over the next few weeks to Christmas is only going to get even heavier. All the residents can do is hope that the Town Council will come up with something better than their current plans. They might start by exploring the possibility of forcing the centre to cover the cost of funding traffic wardens at weekends.

Full story on Irish Town Planner’s blog Via The Wicklow People