Carlow motorists ‘going crazy’ over ‘outrageous delays’ on Kilkenny Road

Motorists in Carlow town are “going crazy” over “outrageous delays” on the Kilkenny Road, a council meeting has heard.

The issue was raised by Fianna Fáil councillor Fintan Phelan at the January meeting of the Carlow Municipal District.

Cllr Phelan said: “The situation on the Kilkenny road with the roadworks at the moment - it’s an absolute disaster.

“I’m on this council for 11 years now and I’ve never seen a worse traffic management system in place.

“The level of anger there from people over this is palpable. My phone is blowing up.

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“There’s people out there that are 45 [minutes], an hour, an hour and a half, stuck in traffic. Whatever is going on there is not working and it has to change immediately.”

He called on Director of Services Padraig O’Gorman to alert members of the Active Travel department immediately.

“The director needs to get on the phone to Active Travel and ask for something to happen because people now are waiting three or four [sequences] for the change of lights before they’re moving anywhere.

“There’s people who have to collect kids, there’s people who have to get work, coming and going; it’s just not working.

“I want an urgent answer from the director in relation to this because it can’t be allowed to continue now. It’s going on far too long and something has to happen immediately.”

Fine Gael councillor Fergal Browne said he “100 per cent agreed” with Cllr Phelan and noted the number of teachers who have been late for work at the school where he works.

People Before Profit-Solidarity also agreed and described the works as “very frustrating for a lot of people”.

The Mayor of Carlow, Cllr Paul Doogue, said: “It took an hour and 15 minutes for one lady to get from SETU to Graiguecullen to work.

“She was 45 minutes late for work and what I’m led to believe is that it’s the traffic light system.

“Whatever way it is it’s wrong so we would ask you to address it as best you can. Even if it’s to stagger the work or something like that because people need to get to work. There’s something radically wrong.”

In response to the councillors, Mr O’Donoghue said that it is something that the council is monitoring.

He stated: “We’ve been looking at the Kilkenny Road, I’ve been talking to Seamus O’Loughlin on Active Travel about it.

“It’s difficult because you’re looking at just the one lane system and with the river, you don’t have the option to divert anywhere to the west.

“We will look at it, we’ll talk to the contractor. I’ll talk to them this evening now following this meeting and we’ll see if we can get any improvements.

“I hear you loud and clear members. If we can make some improvements, we’ll put them in place straight away.”

However, a number of councillors appeared to be unsatisfied with this response. Cllr Phelan again voiced his opinion, describing the situation as “absolutely disgraceful”.

He continued: “There’s taxpayers, they’re trying to get to work and they can’t. There’s been outrageous delays.

“I’ve never seen the likes of it in all the traffic management and roadworks that have been going on in this council.

“It’s the worst ever and I can’t emphasise that enough. People are really, really angry out there about this and they’re getting onto us.

“It’s all very well for Active Travel saying there’s very little that can be done. They’re on the phone to us going crazy and rightly so and something needs to be urgently changed in relation to it.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Browne enquired as to when the works might be completed. Mr O’Gorman responded by saying that July is when the whole project is set to be completed.

However, he emphasised that this date includes time for the provision of footpaths, cycle tracks and lighting.

Whilst he said the roadworks would not continue until then, he provided no date as to when they might be completed.