School appeals for road link completion
 |
| Fine Gael candidate Tracey O'Dwyer and Deputy Martin Heydon at the stalled link road. |
Welcoming the move, local elections FG candidate Tracey O'Dwyer said the completion of the road would make things safer for children and also open up further enterprise and jobs possibilities in Kilcullen.
In a letter to Director of Services for Roads, Transportation and Road Safety, Niall Morrissey, Scoil Bhride Principal Anne Flanagan says the 'congestion and hazardous conditions' which pertain every day outside the 700-pupil school must be addressed.
"There is an obvious need for some sort of relief or ring road to divert traffic away from the school and town centre, to alleviate the pressure on existing infrastructure," Ms Flanagan says. "Despite all the development, no improvements has been made to road and path networks which now caters for a huge increase in population." She notes that this is a problem 'which need never have happened' if appropriate and necessary planning measures had taken place initially in relation to the proposed road.
In her letter, which detailed a range of improvements which would ensue from the completion of the link, Ms Flanagan concluded by calling on the Council 'to be proactive' on the issue, and ... 'enhance the quality of life for all of the community'.
Councillors agreed to the link road back in September 2005, and it was then thought that work would begin on completing it in the spring of the following year. But that never happened.
Much of the roadway is already in place as part of the developments on the Curragh Road end, and for the Kilcullen Business Park at Knockbounce. But a 100-metre length had to be negotiated with the GAA and one of the developers back in 2005, because the original proposed road had to be realigned following the mis-positioning of two houses. Negotiations between the Council and the GAA on a land swap to facilitate the revised road have been ongoing since 2005.
In a recent meeting with senior officials in the Council, Tracey O'Dwyer and Deputy Martin Heydon elicited agreement from them that delivery of the road would greatly benefit traffic issues in the town. They also established that work is finally at 'an advanced stage' between the Council and the GAA to carry out the land swap.
"Apart from the safety issue at the school, and also at Sunnyhill and Thompson's Cross which would also be helped by the completion of the link road, it would greatly improve the prospect of attracting new businesses and jobs to the Kilcullen Business Park," Tracey O'Dwyer said this evening.
At the most recent meeting of the Naas MD councillors, officials said a distributor ring road around Kilcullen 'is not being progressed' at this time, but the local Fine Gael team believes completing this small section is both achievable and necessary.
The Diary understands that viable options for funding the completion of the section are being considered.
Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy
