Major Kilkenny City road project reaches next step as public submission process closes
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The online portal closed to public submissions on Friday, August 14
The deadline for public submissions ahead of long-awaited improvement works on the Tullaroan Road in Kilkenny has passed.
Six public submissions were received by Kilkenny County Council.
The local authority secured funding for the project under the National Transport Authority’s Active Travel Programme to improve crossing facilities.
The scheme includes three raised pedestrian crossing points, a footpath to Dicksboro GAA club and a gateway on the approach to the city from the Tullaroan Road.
The first crossing serves Dicksboro GAA club and is a Toucan crossing, a signal-controlled, raised crossing and ties into the existing shared active travel facility. The second crossing will connect Fox Meadows and Bishop’s Lough, while the third crossing closest to the city connects to the permeability link at Ayrfield through to the Granges Road.
Accompanying statutory measures are underway to permanently reduce the speed limit on this busy stretch of road to 50km/hour.
Feedback submissions broadly welcomed the project but raised concerns about certain elements.
One correspondent argued the project fails to address the needs of students who must travel across or from within Kilkenny City to reach the relocated CBC campus, stating there was “no attempt within this scheme to address onward journeys towards Kilkenny City, and particularly towards Lord Edward Street.”
“Improved crossings are not, by themselves, a complete active-travel network. They do not address the more difficult question of how a child or other vulnerable cyclist travels continuously and safely along this corridor and into Kilkenny City without being required to mix with significant motor traffic.
Another submission requested a speed bump be installed at the entrance to Fox Meadow to ensure that vehicles travelling toward Kilkenny on the Tullaroan Road adhere to the speed limit.
Meanwhile, it was also suggested the scheme not be designed in isolation and “form part of a clear route connecting CBC and the growing residential areas on the Tullaroan Road with Kilkenny City's wider cycling network.”
The project is expected to be completed by the end of the calendar year.