Department is ‘very aware’ of congestion and eyeing solution

Department is ‘very aware’ of congestion and eyeing solution

11 June 2025

STORMONT Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said the Department for Infrastructure is very aware of traffic congestion issues in Downpatrick and is working towards a “viable and appropriate solution”.

Her comments came during a meeting with regeneration officials and local politicians last week.

Ms Kimmins’ visit to the town last Thursday also coincided with the publication of the eagerly-awaited report on measures to prevent future flooding in Downpatrick in the wake of the devastating flood of November 2023 which decimated businesses in Market Street and St Patrick’s Avenue.

She also visited the Downpatrick and Co Down Railway to view flood recovery work and discuss the role of the heritage rail sector within the local economy.

The minister said that in terms of regeneration, addressing Downpatrick congestion was a key issue for her department and revealed several traffic studies have been carried out with a number of options under consideration.

One is the potential introduction of a one-way system at Edward Street which is home to a busy primary school while an immediate priority for roads officials is upgrading town centre traffic light signalling.

New cables were laid during the recent town centre resurfacing scheme with roads officials confirming they will be linked to a new system designed to improve traffic flow across all the major town centre junctions.

Roads officials say they are confident the new system will allow all the main junctions to operate much more efficiently.

DfI principal engineer Cindy Noble said there had been a number of traffic studies carried out in the past which resulted in a number of options, including one focusing on Market Street.

She confirmed the studies were going to be revisited.

“I think at this stage it’s a case of looking at the options and the data. One option was a link through Irish Street and there were two others which we are going to look at again, but it will be through a process of consensus and agreement with traders and officials,” the official explained.

Ms Noble said that while there were no infrastructure projects planned for Downpatrick at the minute from the department’s point of view “that would benefit significantly the traffic movement”, the proposed eastern distributor road was in the current area plan.

She suggested this would have “limited benefit” for traffic progression through the town, but was seen to unlock development land.

“That is something that’s in the pipeline at present and we are focusing on what we can do with the town centre junctions. Essentially, Downpatrick is constrained by its geography,” she said.

“We are trying to maximise the efficiency of the existing town centre junctions, working with peaks and flows,” she added.

Ms Kimmins said work was ongoing on a number of fronts in relation to the gridlock issue.

“I can give a reassurance that the Department for Infrastructure is very aware of the congestion issues and is working towards a viable and appropriate solution,” she said, explaining she is conscious that “cars don’t go into shops but people do”.

Downpatrick Regeneration Working Group chairman Mal McGrady gave the minister an overview of the work the group has completed to date and its for the future.

These include the redevelopment of the former Irish Street police base and a number of adjacent, empty buildings to provide a new boutique hotel, apartments and retail space.

Mr McGrady said congestion was an issue the group was keen to address as part of Downpatrick’s ongoing regeneration with the focus on getting people into the town and being able to park.

Welcoming the recent investment to resurface the town centre, Mr McGrady said praised the DfI for the “significant monies” it invested in relation to the resurfacing in the town centre as part of the public realm scheme.

“One of the big issues we will have particularly as the Irish Street scheme goes forward is traffic modelling, traffic flow and access to the town centre and the amount of time it takes to get through it,” he said.

He asked that in the absence of a bypass is there was any possibility of link roads to alleviate town centre congestion.

Mr McGrady suggested one potential option would be a new link between the Ballydugan Road across to the Omniplex cinema complex. He also suggested revitalising the town’s railway which could be looked at in the longer term and have a tourism element attached to it.

Mr McGrady said consideration was also given to introducing a one-way system in Market Street or potentially closing it altogether so people could walk through the town’s shopping core without the worry of traffic issues.

Another member of the regeneration group, Mr Stephen Magorrian, said a main issue was people spending time in the town and working the traffic around that.