By Sean Moriarty

How long does it take to place a few traffic bollards on the centre of a main road?

Well over a year if you are depending on Kerry County Council.

For several years the elected members of Killarney Municipal District have been calling for action on the Lewis Road intersection with the Killarney bypass.

The idea is that traffic leaving Lewis Road will no longer be allowed to cross the bypass road. Instead, motorists will have to turn left and make a U-turn at Cleeney Roundabout.

The same will apply to traffic entering the bypass from the Kilcummin/Coolcorcoran exit. Motorists will not be allowed to turn right at this junction but will have to turn left and make a U-turn at the MD O’Shea roundabout.

These are interim measures while a bigger project, including a new slip road east of the Kilcummin junction and a pedestrian underpass on the grounds of St Finan’s Hospital will form parts of the bigger plans. 

But the length of time it is taking to put the temporary measures in place does not bode well for the implementation of the full project.

In January this year local roads engineer Paul Curry told a Municipal District meeting: “We will install more pencil bollards and increased signage as an interim measure."

In May the Council pushed that plan out until the end of Quarter 3 – September 30 – which was last Friday. 

A Council official said in May: “Tender documents are currently being prepared to procure a contractor to carry out these works as the first of a number of safety improvement phases on the N22 at the Lewis Road and Kilcummin Road junctions. The works to modify Lewis Road junction to left-out only will be carried out in Q3 2022.”

Elected councillors, just like Killarney motorists, are growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress.

This prompted Cllr Donal Grady to push for further information on the plan at the most recent Municipal meeting – which was held on September 22 – a little over a week before the previous promised deadline.

He asked: “That we Kerry County Council request an urgent update on the progress of the roundabout at the Lewis Road / By-Pass junction.”

In reply a Council official said: “A tender for the works to remove the right hand turn out of Lewis Road will be published in early October with a view to having works completed by the end of year. In relation to the proposed roundabout and link works, the land acquisition process is underway. Once the land has been acquired, the tender documents will be finalised and approval sought to publish the tender notice.”

So, a job that was to be completed by the end of September, and amounts to little more than placing a few bollards in the centre of the road and additional road markings, is only going out to tender this week.

Remember the social distancing rules that COVID-19 brought us – when bollards were placed on footpaths in every town in the county, almost overnight?

The Killarney Advertiser looks forward to the November Municipal District meeting to see what the latest development is on this never ending story.