'No pedestrian bridge' in upcoming market square development plans

The original pedestrian bridge plan.

A long-proposed pedestrian bridge across the Liffey which would make possible a 'circular' walk along the river in Kilcullen is not provided for in plans for the market square redevelopment due to be shown in 2020, writes Brian Byrne.

This is despite the estimated redevelopment costs moving from an initial €500,000 to €1.4m as revealed at the last Kildare Newbridge MD meeting.

The plans are due to be shown in a Part 8 process for the redevelopment in the first quarter of 2020, according to Kildare County Council's latest status report on the proposals.

In a query made by the Diary through Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer, no details were available as to why the original estimated costs had increased beyond a comment that the 'initial indicative cost of €500,000 for this project was an estimate only prior to development of the current concept and design'. The reply also noted that 'the Council has not developed any proposals around the provision of a second bridge'.

Following an application supported by Kildare County Council, the redevelopment project was last year awarded an initial €200,000 from the Town and Village Renewal Scheme 2018 towards the then estimated €500,000 cost.

At that time, following a number of workshop meetings involving Kilcullen Community Action, Hogarth Urban Design, and officials and councillors of Kildare County Council, it was also estimated that a 'phase two' of the redevelopment to provide the pedestrian bridge would cost €100,000.

During those meetings, officials from Kildare County Council's Parks Department said that 'circular' routes which could be incorporated in any plan, including the long-proposed footbridge across to the Valley Park, would 'make a lot of sense', especially since the footings for the bridge are already in place on both sides of the river, provided during the building of the Market Square apartments development in 2005.

Planning permission for the footbridge was granted by Kildare County Council in November 2007, but the bridge was never built because of the subsequent economic crash.

A similar bridge proposal costing £100,000 was originally proposed by the late Jim Collins in 1978 to Kildare County Council. At that time, Kilcullen Community Council was prepared to pay for the construction, but Kildare County Council would not facilitate the Community Council with a landing area at the Council Yard (then located where the Canoe Club is today).

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