Editorial: Kilkenny Ring Road roundabouts look set for a rethink - Kilkenny Live

A new plan to overhaul safety on Kilkenny’s Ring Road is beginning to take shape, and not before time.

Plans to upgrade the pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure mark a welcome step in prioritising road safety and active travel. While the ring road’s primary purpose is to improve traffic flow and remove congestion from the city, a growing number of vulnerable road users also now navigate the route.

Kilkenny City is expanding out past the road that once enveloped most of it. New housing developments, major commercial premises, nursing homes and other buildings have sprung up along or beyond it in recent years. It is only likely to get busier as the city continues to spread, and with possible regeneration of the St Canice’s HSE site and the former St Patrick’s Centre on the Kells Road, to name just two areas.

Kilkenny County Council’s confirmation that a consultant engineer has been engaged and significant design and traffic modelling work is already under way signals serious intent to address long-standing concerns.

The inclusion of the Dublin Road junction, Bohernatounish Road, Waterford Road, and the Kilkenny Retail Park area in the first phase is encouraging. These areas have been highlighted for safety challenges, especially following tragic road incidents in which people have lost their lives.

The projected cost of €6.5 million underscores the scale of the investment—but if successful, it is a price worth paying. We keenly await further detail of what form the plans will take, and how this money is to be spent. Full pedestrian crossings would impact traffic flow — would an overpass or two be on the table?

Finally, it would be remiss to wax about the Ring Road and neglect to mention again the urgent need to progress completion of the Northern Ring Road. The Minister for Transport was in Kilkenny earlier this month, where he made his most substantative remarks on this yet. Here’s hoping that project sees some real progress soon as well.