“We need to keep the pressure on”: Councillors keep pushing for Kilkenny road upgrades

Updates on improvements to the N25 between Glenmore and Waterford were heard by the Piltown Municipal District at their monthly meeting on Wednesday while councillors emphasised the need to keep communicating with The Minister for Transport to ensure adequate funding is secured.

Councillors were keen to capitalise on the momentum generated by a meeting held last month in Slieverue that saw around 600 people come together to demand safety measures on the stretch of road which has claimed 12 lives in the last 20 years alone with Cllr Pat Dunphy (FG) saying: “We need to keep the pressure on.”

Although Peter ‘Chap’ Cleere TD announced that funding had been secured to advance the scheme to Phase III in 2026, design and environmental evaluation, it is expected that a full completion of a new road is at least six years away.

A pothole on the road has been fixed and new cameras have been installed, but councillors are seeking more measures that can be implemented in the short-term to mitigate the road’s dangers.

Cllr Jenny Catt Slattery (FF) highlighted the need for reduced speed limits and hedge cutting to create more space on the road, to which district Director of Services Ian Gardner replied that plans to bring down the limit from 100km/h to 80km/h on a particularly dangerous stretch were already in motion.

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Labour Cllr Tomás Breathnach recognised how well the Slieverue meeting was organised saying that it “gave a platform which was needed” and “there was a great sense of people working together which we should push as heavily as we can.”

He also called for a strategic diversion plan to be implemented so that the impact of accidents is minimised and traffic can be safely diverted around any incidents.

A follow-up public meeting on the road is scheduled for September.

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