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Traffic survey cable damaged outside Casement Park in Belfast

The damaged MetroCount traffic cable outside Casement Park in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
The damaged MetroCount traffic cable outside Casement Park in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell The damaged MetroCount traffic cable outside Casement Park in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

A DEVICE for monitoring traffic has been damaged outside Casement Park in west Belfast.

The traffic-counting cable had been placed across Andersonstown Road beside the GAA ground in recent days.

But the MetroCount cable, used for surveying traffic, was yesterday spotted sliced in two.

Each end of the device was still padlocked to lampposts on either side of the street with the cables strewn close to the kerbstones.

The Department for Infrastructure said it had not placed the cable along the road and had not been notified of any such plans by a private firm.

A spokesman said: "TransportNI (TNI) would normally be consulted by private companies wishing to install traffic counters. TNI is not aware of any traffic counter being installed at this location."

The cable was close to the Casement Park site where the GAA plans to build a new provincial stadium.

Some residents have opposed the plans, raising concerns about issues such as the stadium's proposed capacity and traffic congestion.

New design proposals unveiled last month included a series of measures aimed at encouraging GAA fans to swap their cars for other means of transport.

The new stadium has a proposed capacity of 34,500 – a slight reduction of 3,500 on previous proposals quashed in a High Court legal challenge.

A judge overturned planning approval after ruling that a traffic assessment had not been carried out to properly examine the impact of bigger crowds.

Ulster GAA did not respond to requests for a comment on Monday night.