No collision figures available at notorious Kildare junction
Bafflers like this on The Curragh is what Cllr Brett seeks for further up the M7 at Kill.
A COUNCILLOR with two as yet unresolved traffic concerns in Kill and Beggar’s End will be satisfied enough with the confirmation that moves are already afoot to amend both situations.
Cllr Fintan Brett brought his concerns in the form of separate motions to the October meeting of the Naas Municipal District (MD) meeting initially asking: “that the Council in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) repairs or replaces the damaged sound barrier at Bishopscourt, Kill”.
(These are the wooden sound bafflers that run between the village and the N7 in an effort to limit the traffic noise from the motorway for the residents of Kill. It is believed they were damaged in a recent storm.) “The N7 at this location is managed and maintained by TII through its Motorway, Maintenance and Renewals Contract (MmaRC),” replied Marie Whelan, a Senior Engineer with the Kildare National Roads Office.
“The motion has been referred to TII for their attention [however] a date for the repair/replacement has not been indicated as yet,” she revealed.
Cllr Brett then went in with his more ambitious question.
“Can the council provide information on the number of reported accidents at Beggars End, Naas over the past eight years?”
Beggar’s End is the local name for the notorious five-road junction between Naas and Punchestown Racecourse on the Blessington Road, and this query was taken by Mark McLoughlin, SEO at Transport. “Kildare County Council do not have records of accidents at this location as the Road Safety Authority (RSA) no longer provides this data to local authorities [however] the RSA does provide accident data to the Department of Transport Support Office (DoTSO), and this data is used to prepare a report on Locations of Interest (LOI) in County Kildare,” he revealed.
“The LOI’s are evidence-based assessments of accident statistics, and are used by KCC in their funding application for safety improvement works on regional and local roads to the Department of Transport. The Government is preparing legislation to allow road accident data to [then] be made available to each local authority,” he concluded.
