Urgent meeting sought with TII over Kildare road infrastructure 

Local Fine Gael politicians have requested an urgent meeting with the state’s transport bodies amidst discontent with the state of transport in the county.

10 of the parties’ 11 elected members in Kildare – except for cllr Brendan Wyse – brought forward a joint motion at the most recent meeting of Kildare County Council proposing that the council “requests an urgent meeting with the National Transport Authority (NTA) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to discuss the design and provision of cycle lanes, sustainable transport and bus shelters.”

The council’s response to the motion told the councillors that it was a matter for them to agree.

Cllr Tim Durkan said that it would be “extremely helpful” to sit down with the transport bodies to gain an understanding of the design manual for streets and roads, saying that action is needed in the context of serious accidents around the county.

Cllr Suzanne Doyle of Fianna Fáil and the Social Democrats’ cllr Chris Pender spoke at the meeting to express their support for the motion.

Cllr Pender struck a pessimistic when discussing the NTA, saying that “if the NTA are anything like Uisce Éireann, they’ll fob us off and say no”.

Cllrs Peggy O’Dwyer of Fianna Fáil noted that she head been told recently that design of the cycle lane pilot scheme in Newbridge would not be passed if its’ implementation was sought now rather than five years ago, with the design not meeting criteria.

Fianna Fáil’s Noel Heavey lamented the “insurmountable difficulties in creating infrastructural projects, that is the curse of this country” and called for a “meaningful meeting”.

It was agreed that TII and NTA would both be written to.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme