Call to remove ‘ugly’ and broken parking signage in Limerick

A COUNCILLOR has called for the removal of a series of “ugly” electronic road signs which are out of use.

City West councillor Joe Leddin sought an update on the future of the signals, which are no longer operational.

Introduced in 2011, there are a number of these signs across the city which, when working, show the number of car spaces remaining in multi-storey car parks.

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In a written reply, council director Vincent Murray said these signs could be “refurbished or repurposed” in future to support the objectives of the new Limerick City Centre Transport Plan.

But that remains subject to funding, and Cllr Leddin said: “I genuinely do not think we need these signs.”

“Maybe there is a better way of communicating with people because of the way technology has gone. Most of those car parks have some form of a digitised count, so if you went onto an app, you could be told what car park has what capacity,” he said.
“They are a complete eyesore,” the Labour man added.

Cllr Leddin was also told that as part of a decluttering programme last year, 49 road signs were removed.

He thinks directional signs are not needed as much as they once were due to the widespread use of smartphones and Google Maps.

“The more signage you have scattered around, the more of an impediment it is, particularly for those with disability or mobility issues. It’s one of the reasons we started the decluttering to make it easier for people to navigate the city,” he said.