BREAKING: Naas is to be transformed for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians
Public will be consulted about the plans
A thorough reorganisation of how motorists, pedestrians and cyclists get around Naas is in the pipeline.
A 45 metre extension of Corban’s Lane is planned and this will reduce traffic congestion in the town centre as well as enhancing safety and accessibility.
The work will see the completion of an alternative route for traffic and will involve linking and constructing walking and cycling pathways align the route and at the adjacent Murtagh’s Corner.
The project will also link with existing active travel (walking and cycling) infrastructure and will construct further routes to connect residences, schools, retail and medical facilities and existing public transport.
The project was one 35 across 19 counties announced by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan to bring more public transport, walking and cycling options to villages, towns, and cities by 2025.
One of the planning conditions attached to the original Naas Shopping Centre permission when it was originally approved was a comprehensive reconfiguration of Corban’s Lane because traffic will enter the centre from this location. The reconfiguration also envisaged the removal of the railway bridge on nearby Friary Road as well as the removal of the Sarah Flood pub site, creating a new route across the main street from Murtagh’s Corner.
Cllr Fintan Brett told a Naas Municipal District meeting that progress is needed adding “the traffic moving through the centre of Naas all day, every day, is unreal.”
Cllr Bob Quinn also pressed for progress on the plan noting that €20m has been allocated.
Kildare County Council official Donal Hodgins said that the project will be transformative but expensive - and the first step will be to initiate a public consultation process.
This will take the views from anyone who wants to participate and will show the level of public support for the plan.
There will likely be traffic restrictions in the future and motorists will be discouraged from driving the full length of the town. Traffic movements will be more restrictive.
Mr Hodgins said it is hoped that the public consultation element could start by the end of this year or in the opening quarter of 2024 and could take six months to complete and some of the works could be completed the following year. Apart from changes to Murtagh’s Corner, Poplar Square will also be reconfigured.