New layout on Kilkenny Road, Carlow is causing anger and frustration

RESIDENTS living on Carlow’s Kilkenny Road, where a new pedestrian and cycle scheme is taking shape, have complained of health and safety risks, while Carlow Co Council said the reallocation of space to cyclists has ‘proven to be contentious and difficult to accept’.

Tom Lennon, a local resident and owner of the drive-through commercial premises opposite the South East Technological University campus, said that residents were not specifically consulted about the impact of the new road layout on access to and from their properties and that the resulting scheme is “dangerous”, “ridiculous” and “completely incorrect”.

He has lived in one of the Victorian houses along the Kilkenny Road (R448) for 30 years. The houses have relatively narrow gates and are protected structures. Tom said that before the new layout was introduced, there was a cycle lane and hard shoulder on his side of the road, which made it easier to edge out of his gate without disrupting the flow of traffic.

The new layout, with a three-metre wide, two-way cycle lane on the opposite side of the road, means that he and his neighbours cross the middle white line of the road in an effort to swing out and turn left, something they say is both illegal and dangerous.

He takes issue with the width of the cycle lane, describing it as a “landing strip” and joking that “Ryanair are going to start putting in planes here shortly”.

Tom said that during a site visit by a council officer, he was told it was okay to hold up traffic when exiting his property and that he should apply for planning permission to widen the dropped curbs outside his gate.

Another resident, Ger Farrell, has lived with his wife on the Kilkenny Road for the past 20 years and said the new layout “is something that we are all really concerned about. They couldn’t have made it worse”.

His father also lives on the road and had a frightening experience recently while turning left into his property ‒ he was to the right edge of the lane in order to swing into the gates when a motorist undertook him on the inside.

Rob Arch, who lives and owns a hostel business on the road, said that his gates are wider, but he also has to go past the white line to turn left. He said he consulted a council engineer, who told him instead to drive onto the footpath while turning.

Each of the residents raised concerns that emergency vehicles would have difficulty accessing the area because of the lack of overtaking space on the road.

Although the road will be quieter now that students at the university and Tyndall College are on their summer holidays, the residents said the new road layout has removed places for buses to pull in when dropping students off. The filter lane for turning onto Burrin Street has also been removed, which they are worried will worsen traffic.

“Look, traffic is a fact of life and you have to try and work around it, but making a road smaller is not helping the situation,” argued Tom. “It’s not a situation where I just don’t like it and it’s an inconvenience for me as a car user – it’s now dangerous.” 

 None of the residents we spoke to for this article were aware of the two rounds of public consultation for the new cycle and pedestrian plans. They said they would have preferred direct communication from the council. The residents held a meeting recently and have written twice to the council expressing their concern about health and safety risks. They are awaiting a response.

Responding to questions from The Nationalist, a statement from Carlow Co Council explained that under the ‘National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland’, the needs of pedestrians must be considered first, followed by the needs of cyclists, then public transport and lastly private motor vehicles. It said this policy 'should not be interpreted as an anti-car stance. The key issue is one of balance, and the needs of the car no longer takes priority over the needs of other road users.

'The issues faced when accessing the public road from this area are no different to those faced for the past 30 years and are no different to those faced by the majority of property owners in urban areas,' the statement continued.

'Safety is of paramount importance to all stakeholders involved and has been central to all decisions made throughout the design and construction of the scheme,' it said.

The statement outlined that the council had conducted two independent safety audits, whose recommendations had been implemented, and that a further audit would be carried out after the works are completed. It further noted that health and safety site inspections are ongoing, with the recommendations incorporated into the construction management plan.

But Tom Lennon remains frustrated by what seems the lack of a coherent final plan. “They’re pulling the whole place asunder. They’ve changed it several times,” he said.