Dramatic scenes in Callan yesterday evening with a car ending up on a public walkway following a collision.
It’s not yet known what caused the two-vehicle incident after 4pm from which one woman was taken to hospital as a precaution.
The stretch is popular with walkers and joggers as Cllr Joe Lyons told KCLR News; “Thank God there was nobody hurt, nobody injured seriously, there’s a great loop there all around Callan, outside Callan town and while we have the Abbey Meadow and the Moat walkways as well, which are extremely safe, an awful lot of people use the bypass which is lovely, it’s grand, it’s a long stretch along the edges of town and thank God there was nobody injured with the accident yesterday evening”.
Meanwhile, it appears the route is among those for which speed per hour level is due to be lowered noting “Yes, this will be reduced in November from 100 to 80 and Callan Bypass is under the jurisdiction of the TII and there was major works to be done on the Bypass this summer but the TII pulled the money and said that prepare the works, prepare the tender, prepare the plans and Kilkenny County Council won’t be allowed to start works until early 2025, which is a major pity because this was something that needed to be done for safety”.
There are four turnoffs on the road on the Callan town side alone and Cllr Lyons says “I’ve long been looking for separate lanes and TII keep saying that the width is not there for separate lanes but the new plans now will be launched in the next couple of months and we’ll see what is involved there”.
He adds ” I’ve been looking for signage into Callan town, it’s very badly signed and you’ve so many coming into the northern end of the town where they want to go into the centre so next month now they’ll erect new signage which it’ll make it a lot clearer to the entrance to Callan town”.