Works are about to start to upgrade a south Kilkenny road.
Machinery’s moving on site this week at the N24 Tower Road Junction ahead of Monday’s start date for improvements on a stretch which has been the scene of a number of serious road incidents over the years.
The N24 itself, which runs from Waterford to Limerick through South Kilkenny and Tipperary, was last year declared one of the worst five in the country for road fatalities having recorded 12 between January 1, 2017, and September 14, 2022.
A flyover’s now set to be introduced across the national route as part of the works which are expected to take about a year to complete at a cost of €10million.
Cllr Pat Dunphy’s been telling KCLR News “Where the Tower Junction in Piltown is, there’s going to be a flyover there, the junction as it is we’ve been told won’t be there any longer, it will be by flyover, there’ll be a section of road then two lanes on either side, it’s a two plus one at the moment, in that particular area, that stretch of the road from the Tower junction up to the Inkbottle junction and there will be a road coming down then into Piltown, near the Tower area coming in from the Owning direction”.
He adds “There’ll be a lot of changes, all for safety measures and it will make the road a lot safer, take away that dangerous junction and all of the loss of life we’ve had around there”.
And Cllr Dunphy says those using the road will feel safer; “Definitely there won’t be a turn in off the N24 as it is now, it’ll be a flyover so that’s going to be much safer”.