Link road completion faces a bumpy ride

End of the road: the uncompleted link road even had bus bays. 

The completion of the long-planned link between the Athy and Curragh roads in Kilcullen could be facing some bumpy travel, writes Brian Byrne.

The proposal is also likely to pitch residents of the area against some strong community entities which are in favour of the plan.

Opposition is growing to the link mainly on the grounds of the safety of children from the nearby Cnoc na Greine and Castlemartin housing estates.

In particular, an element of the proposal that it would cut the travel of HGVs through Kilcullen and from the Sunnyhill Road has raised 'nightmare' scenarios in the minds of parents.

'Dangerous', 'madness', 'daft', 'very silly', and 'in breach of RSA safety planning' are some of the comments from residents opposed to the road.

The link was originally agreed by KCC councillors in 2005, but wasn't completed because two houses built in divergence from the original planning permission on the Cnoc na Greine estate were in the way of the original route. *In 2003, the developer applied for permissions for retention of the two houses, on Cnoc na Greine View, the gardens of which the Council's planner said 'encroaches onto the reservation for a proposed traffic objective'. That objective was 03.81a 'from the Kinneagh Rd (b) to the Athy Rd. (c).' Among several objections to the application was one from Kilcullen Community Action. The Council granted permission for retention of the houses on 29 January 2004.

Since then the plan has been mostly off the radar, but came back into sharp focus before the recent local elections, when both Kilcullen-based candidates said they supported reactivating the link proposal. A Facebook discussion following the highlighting of this on the Diary had a largely negative focus, though there were also voices in support amongst the 20 people who commented.

The 'long road'.

The recent conclusion of negotiations between Kilcullen GAA and Kildare County Council for a land 'swap' has spiked interest further. The deal gives the club eight acres of Council-owned adjoining land in exchange for a strip of the club's property, which would enable the club to undertake significant development. The Council's strip will enable completion of the link, from an already in place section of road alongside the Kilcullen Business Campus, to Cnoc na Greine Avenue — locally known as 'the long road' from Cnoc na Greine to the Curragh Road.

School time traffic on Curragh Road.

Earlier this year, the management of Scoil Bhride NS wrote to councillors and local TDs asking that the link be completed on pupil safety grounds, as it would help reduce traffic congestion during school drop-off and pick-up times.

The link is also being supported by Kilcullen Community Action (KCA), as part of efforts to reduce heavy traffic through the town, especially to the traffic lights where many vehicles turn left for Newbridge or the M7 south off the Curragh.

Traffic queues in Kilcullen.

Cnoc na Greine residents Dave and Anne-Marie Masterson say they were aware of the link being built when they moved into the estate some 16 years ago. They also appreciate the traffic problems in Kilcullen, and on the Sunnyhill Road. Dave isn't putting up his hand against the link, but he suggests a closer look at the proposal to make sure it is still appropriate?

"Ten years ago you wouldn't see anyone on the long road, but now you see children all the time," he says. "The idea is to take HGVs off the Sunnyhill Road and put them on the link road. With so many children around, is that the wisest thing?"

He wants due diligence carried out before any work goes ahead. "I'd like somebody to look at the plan, at the expected traffic volumes and type, and just make themselves happy that this still makes sense."

Dave's wife Anne-Marie is more firmly on the against side. With their two children regularly using the road to get to school and to the Community Centre campus, she is very conscious of a heightened danger from through traffic on the long road, especially in large numbers and including heavy vehicles.

"I drive down that road regularly at school going times,” she says. “I always drive out from the kerb, because young children haven't a clue. They can be walking with their friends, and then be out on the road in the blink of an eye." She says she has a picture in her mind of two HGVs meeting on the road, 'and all those children around'. "It's an accident waiting to happen."

End of the road: Where Cnoc na Greine Avenue would have continued to the link. Please note that the yellow house on the right of the picture has nothing to do with the planning issue described earlier.

Another local resident, Piers Brand, is unequivocally against. "It is utterly in breach of RSA safety planning to place a high speed link past two residential estates and a school,” he says, “and clearly an area where children are constantly crossing. It is simply putting kids' lives at risk, wasting money, and giving no real benefit to traffic flow other than moving HGVs from the Sunnyhill Road onto a road past children.”

A woman from the other end of Kilcullen who drives her children to school and sports activities through slow traffic says the link is a ‘very silly idea’ and that a more comprehensive traffic management plan for Kilcullen is required. “I think the Council needs to look at this again in the overall,” she told the Diary, asking that her name not be published.

Among the alternatives mooted, to the Diary and in the Facebook-based discussion in May, is the upgrading of the Sunnyhill Road to make it safer for walking as well as suitable for the heavy traffic currently using it. The pedestrian element of that would require a footpath built the full length of the road. Narrow sections would need to be widened to cope properly with the traffic. It would be costly.

However, people are already concerned about the amount and speed of traffic on the Sunnyhill road, currently making it unsafe for walkers and cyclists. Described as a ‘rat run’ it carries a significant number of trucks using it to avoid Kilcullen on their way to Newbridge. In a survey in 2012, a figure of more than 2,250 traffic movements per day was recorded on the Sunnyhill Road. Over the survey period, some 3pc of these were HGVs, or more than 60 heavy vehicles a day, though an earlier survey had put that figure as high as 8pc. It’s likely that there would be considerable opposition to upgrading it to make it an ‘official’ bypass. In 2016, KCA called for the banning of HGVs on the road, and the introduction of traffic-slowing measures.

But if the road was upgraded to cope with the traffic, and made safe for pedestrians, it could allow for the banning of HGVs on the planned local link road, and on the stretch alongside Scoil Bhride from the traffic lights to the Sunnyhill/Curragh Road junction.

Residents and local groups point out that the problem need never have arisen if an exit on the northbound part of the M9 to the M7 south had been included in the design of the junction with the two motorways. As far back at 2007, KCA and local councillors had pushed for this to be retrospectively done, but without success.

Other elements of the link road plan would be the elimination of the existing access road  (above) to the Community Centre campus, and the related opening of a new entrance off the link itself. This would also provide proper pedestrian access to the campus across Pinkeen Stream.

At the moment, an unofficial and tricky crossing is widely used by pedestrians, including children on their way to school. "But people with buggies have to walk all the way down to the road and back to get to the Community Centre," notes Anne-Marie Masterson.

A timeline for the completion of the link still isn't in sight. Last month, Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer was told by Council officials that there is no budget for the project, and that a Part 8 process would have to be undertaken before any work could go ahead. Last March, Cllr Billy Hillis was informed that no 'distributor link road' was being considered for Kilcullen, due to lack of resources. Some of the people the Diary has spoken to are sceptical if the link will be in place even by the end of the term of the present Council.

The reality is, though, that a proposal which had been 'sleeping' for a decade and a half is now wide awake. The bear has been poked. There will be more about it, without any doubt.

*Editor's note: This paragraph was added to the original report to clarify and verify the statement.


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