THE streets of Killarney could be in line for a radical overhaul with Kerry County Council proposing a series of new traffic calming measures.
A move to rectify problems at one particularly confusing and controversial traffic junction, which has led to repeated complaints from frustrated motorists and pedestrians, was on the agenda at a special meeting this Wednesday.
Killarney Municipal District councillors met with engineers and other local authority officials to discuss the ongoing crux at the major junction which links High Street with Hugh O’Flaherty Road, St Anne’s Road, Rock Road and New Road.
Council officials want to prohibit vehicles from entering High Street, via St Anne’s Road and Rock Road, to access Hugh O’Flaherty Road and existing stop signs will be removed to give full right-of-way priority to traffic driving up High Street.
Separately, the council also has plans to narrow the roadway and widen the footpaths along High Street with “a number of build-outs” on the pavements to allow for more landscaping.
The local authority has similar plans for Plunkett Street where the footpaths will also be significantly widened to bring them level with the roadway. The plan is to remove the path and have them separated from the roadway by bollards.
These matters will be finally decided when a traffic management study is completed, probably in January.
Plans were also unveiled today for the construction of a zebra crossing at Fair Hill involving a kerbed central island with pavement build-outs also being suggested.
A controversial road narrowing programme currently ongoing on Muckross Road is to be referred back to the National Roads Authority with the Killarney Municipal District seeking modifications following concerns expressed by residents and businesses in the area.
Opinions were heard that the public consultation process in advance of such works is not sufficient in its current form.
“To put one advertisement in a local paper is hardly sufficient. Residents and businesses should be properly notified in advance,” one councillor said.
