KILDARE: Tourists won't be visiting iconic Naas 'big ball' motorway monument
There will be no tourism role for an iconic motorway monument.
The idea of the well known "big ball" monument at the M7 entrance route to Naas becoming a tourist attraction, bringing visitors to the area, was put forward by Cllr Colm Kenny.
Officially known as “perpetual motion”, the structure is the distinctive feature of the M7 Naas bypass - Ireland’s first ever motorway.
The spherical structure is a tubular steel sphere, onto which a 50mm layer of concrete was sprayed to create the road-like surface effect once the surface was painted.
However a Naas Municipal District meeting was told that there is a safety concern surrounding the request and according to Kildare County Council it would be dangerous to make it into any kind of tourist attraction given the nearby traffic volumes.