It will be years before Kilkenny’s Ring Road extension is completed.
The latest meeting of the County Council heard the projection from Senior Engineer Seamus Kavanagh who says €40 million of funding still needs to be secured for the project.
Many councillors expressed great frustration at the news, claiming they only signed off on the controversial CAS bridge on the understanding that it would allow the outer ring road to be progressed.
And Cllr David Fitzgerald is particularly disappointed that design consultants, telling KCLR News “After the completion of the St Francis Bridge promises were made to the people of Kilkenny and to others as elected members that the Northern Ring Road Bridge would be progressed as quickly as possible so the news that there are no design consultants appointed to progress the application to make the bridge a reality is very disappointing news and I, along with other members of the council, made it very clear that that’s not acceptable”.
Cllr Fitzgerald also threw down the gauntlet to the county’s former Green councillor, saying “We need assurances from the Department of Environment and our Minister, Minister (Malcolm) Noonan, who promised people at the time of the building of the St Francis Bridge that he was going to prioritise the development of the Northern Ring Road Bridge, well now he’s a minister in the very department that authorises these projects and it’s very important now that he gets the finger out and gets the job done”.
In addition, the Fine Gael representative says “The Northern Ring Road Bridge is a long-standing desire of the members of Kilkenny County Council, that we progress it and that we achieve it and that we deliver it in the lifetime of this council and we made it very clear that the executives need to ensure that this project progresses and progresses quickly”.
