PLANS to remove and replace a pedestrian crossing on the lower Ravenhill Road have been approved, with work to commence at the beginning of the financial year in April 2022.
The staggered crossing, which is at the bottom of My Lady’s Road and the Ravenhill Road has been reported by local community groups to be the scene of near misses and incidents involving traffic.
George Newell of the Lagan Village Youth and Community Group said: “It’s probably one of the busiest intersections in South and East Belfast with the amount of traffic that’s going down it. Not a day goes by without one incident or another, and even last week one of our board members was hit by a car using the crossing and received an awful fright.”
Over the previous decade there has been substantial growth in the area, with many new businesses and residents moving in. The area features an Asian supermarket, Polish supermarket, primary schools, restaurants and shops, plus there is ongoing development for more commercial space and also the current redevelopment plans underway to transform the old Sirocco site near Short Strand.
Mr Newell added: “There’s recently been planning permission granted for 18 new one-bed apartments on Ballarat Street, which will mean more people will be using the crossing. The area has become highly sought after due to the close proximity it has to Belfast city centre.”
The new plans will involve replacing the old staggered zebra crossing with an island in the middle with a traffic light controlled crossing, which will enable the traffic to flow smoothly, while also removing the safety risks of vehicles not stopping at the current crossing.
Residents and community groups have been campaigning for seven years to change the current crossing, and two years ago the crossing was repainted, with the lights cleaned and polished, but this has still not alleviated the safety concerns.
Matthew O’Toole, SDLP MLA for South Belfast praised local residents in their work and said: “Minister for Infrastructure Nicola Mallon has been making it a priority to focus on safety and visibility in South Belfast and the changes which will be made to this crossing are very important.
"I’d like to give full credit to the residents and community for all their hard work in highlighting and campaigning on this issue.”
The MLA added: “That area of the road has problems with traffic and air quality due to the bottleneck of traffic which builds up around that crossing and junction, so the planned changes are really welcome.”
