New safety push for Thompson's Cross
Councillor Tracey O'Dwyer is asking that the Council prepare a Low-Cost Safety Improvement Scheme for the crossing, and commence discussions with Kilcullen gardai on the road safety issues relating to it, so that the authority is in a position to access 2021 government funding for such schemes.
Cllr O'Dwer told the Diary that her latest motion is designed to access money so that the Council can carry out the design phase for what's needed to ultimately provide a roundabout.
She says that it's not a case of 'the same again', but that sometimes after a road is changed it takes time to see what has worked and what isn't working. "It's a way for the Council to go to Government for money to do further work on something they have already spent money on," she said.
Cllr O'Dwyer said Kilcullen gardai have been in regular discussions with her on the concerns over the present design. "They really want it changed on safety grounds, and that strengthens the argument for the Council to go looking for money."
There have been safety issues at the cross ever since the junction was realigned for the completion of the M9 motorway, and a large number of crashes there prompted local protest and forced Kildare County Council to make a series of 'improvements'. The last of these, in 2016, included a controversial removal of a run-off lane on the turn towards Kilgowan.
In October 2017, Council engineers told councillors that issues raised at works in 2016 had 'been resolved'. These works had been carried out under the Low-Cost Safety Improvement Scheme, in 2016.
But there have been continuing incidents at the cross, a number of them serious, and local people have regularly expressed frustration at what they see as 'inadequate' safety changes to the original design.
A roundabout is believed to be the only true safe option, but funding for that doesn't seem to be available.
*Previous stories related to the junction can be read here.
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