Progress on dedicated bus lane on M7/N7
Photo for illustrative purposes only
A SCHEME aimed at converting part of the M7/N7 hard shoulder into a dedicated bus lane has moved a step forward, with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) confirming that a first phase between Kingswood and Rathcoole has been designed and costed for submission to the National Transport Authority.
TII also confirmed there is insufficient space to provide both a hard shoulder and a bus lane on the route.
The Kildare Nationalist received the update from Kildare South TD Mark Wall, who has been a prominent voice in calling for measures to address congestion on the route.
According to the update received by Deputy Wall from TII, the proposal is currently progressing through the design and options stage of TII’s project management process.
“The proposed implementation of a bus lane on the M7/N7 hard shoulder is currently going through the Design and Options Stage of Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s (TII) Project Management Guidelines. TII has identified that this can be implemented as a bus lane as opposed to a Bus Priority Scheme.”
The update added: “A draft design for Phase 1 will be reviewed and costed for presentation to the National Transport Authority (NTA), who are the Project’s funder. Subject to the NTA’s acceptance of the draft design, and funding being made available, a works package would then be drawn up for implementation.
“This would be an extension of the existing bus lane at Junction 2 Kingswood out to Junction 4 Rathcoole. There would not be a bus lane and hard shoulder as there is insufficient land available.”
