Belfast | People urged to work at home to avoid congestion

As heavy traffic congestion continues across Belfast city centre, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has asked people to work from home one day per week.

The road network is over capacity and traffic congestion could be reduced by walking, cycling, taking public transport or working from home, the department has said.

Alongside these measures the DfI are looking at road engineering measures, public transport interventions and providing the public with information.

"There isn't the physical space to try and put as many vehicles down these roads as possible so... the answer is to get more people onto public transport or to walk or cycle," Colin Woods from the DfI told the BBC.

Road closures

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's The Nolan Show, Mr Woods responded to queries on various road closures across the city.

"If people would use public transport or work from home one day a week even, you would start to see significant reductions in congestion," he said.

What action has the DfI taken?

Road engineering measures, such as:

• Traffic flow helped on Great Victoria Street by taking out a "loop"

• A yellow box on Great Victoria Street at the end of Glengall Street has been removed

• Sequencing of the junctions around Grosvenor Road, Fisherwick place and Great Victoria Street have been changed

Public transport interventions, including:

• Sprucefield Park and Ride services have been increased at peak times

• Buses moved away from temporary stops on Bedford Street

• Working with the police to stop blockages of yellow boxes

Providing the public with information on traffic conditions through:

• Traffic Watch NI website

• Traffic Watch X account

  
  

'Try to avoid peak times'

At peak busy times, such as the evening rush hour, Mr Woods said there was 10-15% of over capacity on the road network.

"The best advice I can give is to think carefully about our journey choices, if we can take the train or bus, or walk or cycle into Belfast city centre," he said.

"If we do need to drive, and many people do for all sorts of reasons, try and avoid travelling at peak times or stagger our journeys because if there are fewer vehicles on the road the traffic will flow better.

"The other main thing is that if we are driving please don't block junctions or yellow boxes because they are there for a reason."

Mr Woods said a car share initiative could be part of transport policy in the future but it would not solve the current traffic congestion issues.