Councillors To Consider Traffic Calming On Kickham Street, Thurles, On Monday.

Locally elected councillors will consider ‘Traffic Calming Measures’ for Kickham Street, latter situated on Route N75, east of Thurles town in Co. Tipperary, at tomorrow’s [Monday November 20th, 2023] Municipal District Council monthly meeting,

NOTE: None of the Municipal District Councillors or Municipal District Officials have issued an invitation to any of Kickham Street residents, to attend said meeting, however, we learn from the grapevine that the already proposed changes, are now open for debate, through public consultation, until Monday December 18th next, which will allow for the general public to make submissions, in writing, up until 4:30pm on January 8th 2024.

The proposals for Kickham Street, according to PLANS TO BE FOUND HERE, include improvements to currently almost non-existent drainage; road resurfacing, and the installation of an uncontrolled pedestrian crossings close to Centra. Other improvements appear to include various raised pedestrian crossings at public exit/entrance points. A narrowing of the roadway to create a 3.25 metres wide area, together with a minor design change to the existing roundabout layout, also appears to be planned for Mill Road roundabout/crossroads.
The road, which links to the M8 motorway has a daily traffic movement average of over 5,600 assorted vehicles, with particulate matter and air pollutants impacting on the health of local residents.

‘**End to end’ traffic continuously at a stand-still, while attempting to enter Liberty Square, Thurles**.

The traffic set-up shown in the picture above captures the traffic situation experienced currently between 8:30am and 10:00am, on 6 mornings each week; between 3:00pm and 6:15pm on 6 afternoons each week; and between 7:00pm and 9:30pm, every Friday evening, as parents arrive to drop-off teenage sons & daughters in Liberty Square to attend the local disco venue; forcing vehicles to come to a halt on a single lane framework; on a street where previous adequate parking spaces for vehicles was readily accessible and today now sadly eradicated, to the detriment of the few only remaining, operating businesses.

Eight and ten wheeler *“semi style”* diesel trucks attempting to pass each other, between two rows of terraced houses, on Kickham Street, situated on route N75 and showing the left-hand-side of a vehicle forced to mount the footpath, rather than adjust driver side mirrors.

Surely, almost static traffic movement requires no further ‘Traffic Calming Measures’.
Changes to this section of the N75 route have already been agreed, without any public consultation, and based on previous public discussions regarding areas of the town e.g. Bowe’s Corner, Liberty Square, Slievenamon Road etc, no public concerns expressed, have ever been accepted or adopted.

Tipperary County Council in their Corporate plan 2020-2024 claim, as one of their corporate objectives, to quote “Support the growth in retail activity thereby, increasing the vitality and vibrancy of our town centres”.

Alas, their day dream has long since melted away, with yet another business gone just this month alone, and an indication from another leading business that they will cease to trade after Christmas. And all due, they rightly claim, to what was an avoidable massive decrease in footfall; with ill-advised changes voted as totally acceptable by locally elected councillors; same speeded up by the removal of car-parking spaces and the greedy introduction of hourly vehicle parking charges. (Oh and let’s not forget the public’s total silence on the matter.)