Naas Relief Road back on track – after 33 years wait

A NAAS traffic alleviation measure first mooted a third of a century ago looks like it might finally be back on the drawing board, after confirmation that a related jigsaw piece of infrastructure is “finalizing tender documents”.

The Inner Relief Road (IRR) - first discussed in 1992, and with a projected build time of 24 months - is planned from the Maudlin’s Lane junction on the Dublin Road to Mountain View, and then onto the Ballycane Road, Naas’s ring road.

This would take all that traffic heading for Blessington, Ballymore, and Kilcullen to loop around Naas entirely, and avoid having to go through the Main Street – a Holy Grail for Kildare planners.

Already two local sources have intimated that Ballymore Homes have been in negotiation with Naas Racecourse to purchase a parcel of land vital to this project, with one suggesting: “I think that deal is done”.

This is a key piece of news, because Ballymore Home are hoping to build up to 600 houses here, and a condition would then be to construct the 1,500m IRR.

“It (the IRR) is definitely back on the agenda, the money is there for it,” said cllr Fintan Brett.

He has been a long-time supporter of the project, and was the sole dissenter (1-6) in the June 2019 Municipal District (MD) vote to not pursue the project.

“The six own goals, I called it,” he smiled wryly.

The quoted cost of the road in 2019 was €4.5m, which had been allocated then by the Department of Transport (DoT) through the NTA. it was believed at the time that this was taken back due to a ‘use it or lose it’ clause.

“I don’t think it was taken though, I think it was set aside (by the DoT) because this road is so crucial,” said cllr Brett. 

“A masterplan for the road is being put together now, and once the land at Naas Racecourse is sold to Ballymore, the masterplan will be adopted into the County Development Plan (CDP) later this year, because the executive don’t want it going to the councillors again as a Part 8."

In 2021, the then town engineer now director of services at corporate services, Eoghan Ryan, said of the IRR plan: “There is a road objective here in the County Development Plan, and this is badly needed in Naas. 

"When this is done, Ballymore can apply for the (600) houses, and then this can start,” predicted Cllr Brett.

What brought this to light was a motion in last week’s Naas Municipal District (MD) meeting from his colleague cllr Bill Clear who sought an update of the status of Murtagh’s Corner in Naas – itself a component of the bigger Naas traffic jigsaw and the plan to remove substantial traffic from the town centre.

“Addressing this could significantly alleviate congestion by enabling vehicles to travel directly through,” he said. 

IRR traffic destined for the Naas Shopping Centre or the Newbridge Road would then be able to use Friary Road and Corban’s lane to bypass the town centre. 

“Kildare County Council have recently appointed a consulting engineer to progress this, and a kick off meeting was held in December,” confirmed Mark McLoughlin, senior executive officer in transport. “A design for the traffic lights has already been completed, so the next task it to complete site investigations before finalizing the tender documents to allow for the appointment of a contractor to complete this,” he said.

“(The council) have possession of that land (behind the hoardings), they have the NTA funding, and this will be presented to the MD in March,” cllr Clear said. “I expect construction (at Murtagh’s Cross) in 2025.