200,000+ trucks through Kilcullen?

More than 200,000 trucks could be passing through Kilcullen every year, if a limited study by the Diary is valid.



On a randomly chosen hour -- 2:18-3:18pm -- last Friday afternoon, 77 trucks passed through the traffic lights at the Hideout Corner, an average of more than one such movement a minute.

Of the total, ten could be described as 'local delivery' vehicles, typically flatbed or medium rigids. The rest were generally large rigids and articulated vehicles, as well as a number of specialist trucks like cement and car transporters.

With 26 movements, the road north from the Athy direction was the busiest truck route on the intersection. Southbound from the Naas direction was next with 23 trucks coming through.

Nineteen arrived via the Curragh Road, and nine came down from the New Abbey direction.

In all, 18 of the trucks were turning right, against the oncoming traffic. Half of these came from the Curragh Road while traffic from the Naas direction was next with five such movements.

A little less than half of the total -- 37 vehicles -- drove straight through the crossroad from wherever they were coming.

Prominent among the largest trucks were articulated long-bodied bulk waste transporters, and most of these were among those which came from the Naas direction and turned across traffic to the Curragh Road.

Although traffic flowed reasonably well through the junction during the hour of observation, there were a number of instances when everything had to stop to allow larger trucks to negotiate turns. The worst problems were for very large vehicles turning into the Curragh Road from both north and south directions.

On one occasion, several cars from the south waiting to go the New Abbey direction had to reverse in convoy to allow a truck coming from that road adequate room to turn southbound.

As an aside, a significant number of drivers were using their handheld mobile phones as they negotiated the junction, both in cars and trucks.

If the Diary's observations of that hour were typical, then, extrapolated for a working day from 8am-6pm, truck movements through Kilcullen could be approaching 700 a day, or more than 200,000 a year.

That's a lot of heavy stuff going through a village that was supposedly bypassed with a motorway years ago.

We'll do the exercise again soon, better prepared for a more detailed monitoring by estimated gross vehicle weight, usage and type.

Brian Byrne.