Ministerial guidelines
Spatial Planning and National Roads: Guidelines for Planning Authorities
New entrances onto national roads, and development that affects them.
Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government · January 2012 · 41 pages
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- 2.7 Development at National Road Interchanges or Junctions Interchanges/junctions are especially important elements of national roads infrastructure that development plans and local area plans must take account of and carefully manage. The location and capacity of interchanges/junctions on national roads are determined during the road planning process, in consultation with local authorities, taking account of a range of factors including anticipated inter-urban and interregional traffic volumes over a design horizon of at least 20 years. A key objective of the approach to road planning is to achieve a satisfactory level of service for road users and to protect and maintain that service over the design period applying to the mainline road and associated interchanges. Therefore, planning authorities must exercise particular care in their assessment of development/local area plan proposals relating to the development objectives and/or zoning of locations at or close to interchanges where such development could generate significant additional traffic with potential to impact on the national road. They must make sure that such development which is consistent with planning policies can be catered for by the design assumptions underpinning such junctions and interchanges, thereby avoiding potentially compromising the capacity and efficiency of the national road/associated junctions and possibly leading to the premature and unacceptable reduction in the level of service available to road users. However, in certain circumstances, additional junctions, or enhancements to existing junctions on national roads, may become necessary to service development needs of national and strategic importance or in cases where a proposed development is demonstrated by the planning authority to be more appropriately located proximate to such junctions. In such circumstances, the NRA will support such capacity enhancements and development proposals where all of the following criteria are met: • Demonstration of the need for additional connectivity by reference to policy considerations such as the National Spatial Strategy, Regional Planning Guidelines and in the Greater Dublin Area, the National Transport Authority’s transport strategy. • Consistency between the relevant development plan and the relevant plans and strategies mentioned above; • Early identification, through the plan-making process, of appropriate strategic land uses, which will benefit from high quality access, such as nationally or regionally important employment clusters or intermodal transfer facilities (but excluding retail and residential development); Spatial Planning and National Roads 15
- • Demonstration that all other options for servicing the development needs and, in particular, the regional and local roads network and the use of public transport solutions, have been examined and exploited to the fullest extent practicable; • Demonstration that the additional traffic loading can be satisfactorily accommodated at the junction concerned and on the national road network; • Ensuring that the proposed development will not give rise to an undesirable precedent for further traffic generating development at or in the vicinity of the proposed development; • Demonstration that design complies with NRA Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) standards; • Satisfactory details of the proposed demand management measures; and • Acceptable funding and delivery proposals for any required improvements. It should be noted that the Roads Act, 1993, as amended, prohibits the granting of planning permission for any development of land entailing direct access to/from motorways. 2.8 Service Areas The presence of long sections of motorways and high quality dual carriageways on the network of national roads and EU work time requirements under Directive 2002/15/EC and Regulation SI 561/2006, support the provision of service areas for 2 16
- road users who wish to rest during longer journeys and/or avail of fuel, toilet and food facilities. These facilities may come in the formats outlined below. On-line Motorway Service Areas: The NRA is directly involved in securing on-line motorway service areas in accordance with the provisions of the Roads Act 1993, as amended. As part of these arrangements, the NRA seeks to acquire the necessary lands and to obtain relevant statutory approvals. The intention to provide these online service areas should be catered for in relevant development plans. NRA on-line motorway service areas incorporate extensive parking and also facilities that cater specifically for the refuelling, refreshment and toilet needs of drivers and passengers. No provision is made for hotel or other accommodation facilities, nor extensive retail outlets. The Authority’s service areas are designed to discourage infrastructure from becoming destinations in their own right. Proposals for service areas on motorways may only be brought forward by local authorities/NRA and, as a consequence, private developers may not independently provide on-line motorway service area facilities alongside such roads. Off-line Motorway Service Areas at National Road Junctions: In the preparation of their plans, planning authorities may consider policies for the provision for off-line motorway service area facilities with reference to the requirements and advice included in the most up-to-date NRA guidance on the location and layout of the NRA’s service areas and also similar type existing or planned privately promoted service facilities within existing towns/settlements and located in the general environs of the relevant road corridor. A proliferation of private off-line service area facilities at national road junctions should be avoided. It is therefore important that a coordinated approach between planning authorities should be undertaken in consultation with the NRA as part of the drafting of development plans. In addition, facilities proposed for inclusion in service areas should be of a type that avoids the attraction of short, local trips, a class of traffic that is inconsistent with the primary intended role for motorways and other national roads and associated junctions in catering for strategic long-distance inter-urban and inter-regional traffic. Furthermore, to permit a service area to become a destination for local customers would be contrary to Government planning policy on retail and town centres as set out in Retail Planning Guidelines 2005. The consequence of this would be to threaten the viability of businesses in cities, towns or other local centres. Spatial Planning and National Roads 17
- Roadside Service Facilities at Non-Motorway National Roads and Junctions: A proliferation of service area facilities along rural sections of national roads and/or associated junctions, where the maximum speed limit applies, would create significant safety risks and affect the level of service available to road users, as well as impact on the viability and vitality of existing urban settlements. In general sufficient road side facilities exist on non-motorway national road network, which also passes through or is in close proximity to a significant number of urban towns and villages where such facilities can be provided for in a sustainable manner. 2.9 Protection of Alignments for Future National Road Projects In the case of future roads development involving plans for new roads or upgrades of existing roads, overall policies and priorities are determined by Government, e.g. in the NDP and other relevant official policies, and are delivered by the NRA in conjunction with local authorities. In line with international practice, the NRA adopts a 20 year design horizon as the basis for capacity design requirements in order to optimise the economic return on the investment, and take account of local authority supplied estimates regarding future population and development patterns, local trends and the aims of achieving compact sustainable urban development. In planning future new routes, the NRA will work with planning authorities in basing new design on robust and reasonable assumptions with regard to future development and the extent to which, if any, traffic generated by such development should appropriately be catered for on the national road network. 2 18
- At the earliest stages of national road design, and especially in the case of new national roads in greenfield situations, planning authorities in consultation with the NRA will also consider implications of the phased development in supporting local transportation infrastructure. A development or local area plan should identify any land required for future national road projects including objectives that: • retain required lands free from development; and • ensure that measures are put in place so that any adjacent development of sensitive uses, such as housing, schools and nursing homes, are compatible with the construction and long-term operation of the road. Development objectives, including the zoning of land, must not compromise the route selection process, particularly in circumstances where road scheme planning is underway and potential route corridors or upgrades have been identified and brought to the attention of the planning authority. Inappropriate zonings are Spatial Planning and National Roads 19
- contrary to the broader public interest concerning the achievement of value for money for the taxpayer and can significantly increase the cost of land to be acquired for national road schemes. Such zoning decisions could make the road project uneconomic, potentially leading to significant material alterations to the project or even the abandonment of the scheme as well as negating the planning work undertaken and the investment made in the proposed road scheme. 2.10 Providing for Public Transport The CSO Transport Omnibus 2008 document sets out total vehicle kilometres travelled by national fleet and vehicle type (2000 – 2008). For the category of “buses and coaches” the figure for 2008 is 276 million kilometres. In 2010 approximately 79.6 million passengers travelled by scheduled bus services provided by Bus Éireann, the majority of which fully or partly use the network of national roads. (Bus Eireann Annual Report and Financial Statements 2010). By comparison, rail accounted for 38.2 million passengers’ journeys across the full range of Iarnród Éireann services (CIE Annual Report 2010). There are also a wide range of private bus operations that rely extensively on national roads, especially long distance inter-urban bus services linking the main centres of populations and key destinations such as airports and ports. Bus services operating on the national road network constitute a very significant part of the overall public transport system. Effective provision for public transport modes on the road network is an important consideration in road planning. This could entail providing appropriate capacity to cater for road-based public transport or by incorporating specific public transport measures to ensure that the journey times of public transport vehicles are maintained notwithstanding other traffic conditions, such as bus priority and management strategies which give preference to public transport at appropriate locations. While the operation and funding of public transport facilities is outside the normal remit of local authorities and the NRA, subject to appropriate consultation and where the provision of such facilities is not to the detriment of the operation and safety of the national road infrastructure concerned, national roads infrastructure can support a shift towards more sustainable transport modes through measures such as the provision of high quality and well signposted access to plan-led park and ride facilities and the provision of convenient access to and from town and village centres for pick-up and drop-off of bus passengers. 2 20
- 2.11 Development Plans, Local Area Plans and Speed Limits The Road Traffic Act 2004 provides the legislative basis for setting speed limits including the application of default speed limits for the designated road types and the procedures for the setting of special speed limits. In the case of national roads, section 9(7) of the Road Traffic Act requires local authorities to obtain NRA consent before making bye-laws introducing or revising speed limits on national roads. Decisions on the applicable speed limit and the area to which it should apply are determined by road traffic and road safety considerations. Planning authorities should ensure that their planning functions take cognisance of the speed limits regime. 2.12 Development Management Standards The development management standards section of development plans must require that significant development proposals be accompanied by traffic and transport assessments (TTA) and/or road safety audits and refer to the NRA’s Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and to the Traffic Management Guidelines prepared by the then Department of Transport and the Department of the Environment and Local Government together with the DTO (see section 3.4). Spatial Planning and National Roads 21
- 2.13 Land Use and Transportation Planning Checklist The following checklist is a useful tool in ensuring that strategic spatial planning and transportation considerations are integral to development plans and local area plans. 2 22 Box 2.13 Land Use and Transportation Planning Checklist General 1. Will the plan encourage sustainable land use and transport infrastructure development while also allowing the transport network to function as effectively as possible? 2. Is the plan consistent with the National Spatial Strategy, Smarter Travel, Regional Planning Guidelines and other relevant official policy documents? 3. Will the plan protect existing and any proposed national roads and the wider transport network from adverse direct and indirect effects of development provided for by the plan? 4. Does the plan provide for future transport infrastructure development, including upgrades to existing routes and junctions and the cumulative impact of existing and permitted development? Modal Shift 5. Will implementation of the plan reduce car dependency and encourage a shift towards use of other transport options including measures to support the achievement of the Government’s targets for modal split under the Smarter Travel strategy? 6. Does the plan make provision for integration of transport networks? Has provision for public transport networks needed now or in the future (e.g. rail extensions) been considered? Access 7. Will the plan ensure the provision of suitable non-national roads to provide access to areas of land where new development is proposed and to connect development generated traffic to the non-national road network and public transport system? 8. Are the policies and methods for managing access included in the planning document consistent with maintaining high levels of safety and road function? Environmental Effects 9. Have environmental sensitivity issues (noise, air pollution, greenhouse gases, congestion, etc.) been adequately addressed so that the future operation of the transport system can be sustained and amenities protected?
- Spatial Planning and National Roads 23 10. Are there appropriate objectives concerning impact mitigation measures, such as noise barriers, set back landscaping and/or buffer zones between areas of land where development is proposed and existing and proposed national roads, the cost of which should be borne by the developer? Funding and Delivery Mechanisms 11. Are there appropriate phasing and funding policies and mechanisms in place to ensure that developers pay for mitigation of the adverse effects of their developments on transport infrastructure?
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