The main street through County Kildare's principal town may be narrowed
The move reduce traffic speeds
The main street through Naas could be made narrower.
And this would have the effect of reducing traffic speeds.
The suggestion comes as preparations are put in place to reduce speed limits on roads across County Kildare and elsewhere.
A call for the main thoroughfare through Naas to be restricted in width came from Cllr Bill Clear, who said this has been done in other towns like Thurles.
Speed limits on all roads are due to be reduced as part of government policy. Urban roads will have a 30 km/h limit instead of 50 km/h and the limit on rural roads will fall from 80 km/h to 60 km/h while national roads will have a limit of 80 km/h. Property will be given to tackling the rural roads and this work will start in November.
The aim nationally is to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030 as well as improving road safety.
There were 184 road deaths across Ireland in 2023 and some 100 lives have been lost in 2024 up to July 9.
Kildare County Council engineer Donal Hodgins told a Naas Municipal District meeting that the default speed limit on rural roads will be 60 km/h and while there may be some exceptions to this, there will have to be a “very compelling reason” to raise the limit.
Mr Hodgins said the main street in Naas is quite wide and should be narrowed.
He said the imposition of “Jake's Law” (30 km/h restrictions in residential areas” will be prioritised because “It has been done in other areas.”
It is likely that roads which currently have lower limits than those to be imposed will retain these lower limits.
Cllr Clear said speeding is a problem in Naas and if KCC simply “stick up speed limit signs and do nothing else it won’t work.”