TII urged to reverse policy whereby lights have been switched off on busy Cork road 

TRANSPORT Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is being urged to reverse a policy that has seen the street lights on a busy Cork road permanently turned off.

TII confirmed that the street lights have been switched off on the N40/N22 Ballincollig Bypass (mainline plus N40 junctions 1 and 2, and N22 junctions 2 and 3) for environmental reasons.

Outages have also been applied on parts of the M7/M8 and on the N25 Waterford in the southern region.

A spokesperson for TII told The Echo that the move is part of a national programme in response to the EU Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU.

Electricity consumption

The spokesperson explained that electricity consumption on route lighting on national roads and tunnels represents 45% of TII’s total electricity use.

“This represents a major element of the electrical energy consumption for TII,” the spokesperson said, adding that it therefore has become an important focus in terms of meeting the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAP) requirements set out by the Department of Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources.

The spokesperson continued: “In the case of the national road network, any such proposed reductions should not compromise any aspects of the safety of the road network.

“The objective has been to identify inconsistencies in the provision of motorway lighting, particularly at motorway junctions, and to commence a move towards general consistency which would be in line with current road lighting design standards.”

Pilot project 

TII first turned off the street lights for a pilot project at four motorway junctions in 2017, and reported no adverse effects following a year of monitoring, leading them to apply the same measures to a further 20 roads the following year and more in subsequent years.

Cork South Central Senator Jerry Buttimer raised concerns about the lights on the N40 at this week’s meeting of the Cork City Joint Policing Committee (JPC), saying that he had noticed how dark some areas of the road were.

Calls for policy to be reversed 

Speaking to The Echo, the Fine Gael senator said: “I understand that environmental issues are behind the policy, but surely we are in a situation where we can use a different type of lighting, fittings or bulbs to reduce the carbon footprint without turning them off completely.”

He added: “Road safety is a serious issue, especially at the moment when we have such an increase in fatalities, this policy has been going on for a while but I think it compromises road safety.”

“In Cork, if you drive from Ballincollig to Bishopstown Court, it is particularly difficult in very bad weather, and there is also ponding on sections of the road”.

Senator Buttimer called on TII to reverse the policy.