NAAS: 2 May 2001: by Trish Whelan. Plans to build a £300,000 footbridge beside the Ploopluck Bridge on the Caragh Road in Naas have been scrapped in favour of a path over the bridge and shuttle traffic lights to allow only one-way traffic at a time.
Waterways Ireland, which now has responsibility for the canals, say any new bridge should match the existing stone bridge. They say the bridge is too narrow to take two-way traffic and Naas UDC now hopes to have shuttle traffic lights in operation at the bridge by the autumn, at a cost of £10,000.
Cllr Charlie Byrne stressed that Caragh Road residents are against traffic lights at the Ploopluck Bridge. He wanted to know if the bridge is safe to use. “I don’t know, and don’t believe you know either,” he told UDC officials.
He believed the bridge is not wide enough to take traffic and a footpath as it stands with buses, trucks and lorries passing over it day and night. Cllr Mary Glennon agreed that a footpath across the bridge ‘does not make sense’. She asked what had happened to plans for the footbridge beside the existing bridge as it would have been ‘a safe alternative’.
However Cllr Eibhlin Bracken said there was plenty of space for a path and protective railing on the bridge.
Cllr Timmy Conway described the present situation as ‘lethal’. He was in favour of a footbridge beside the existing bridge.
Cllr Pat O’Reilly called the new plans a ‘short time solution’. He said the proposed new bridge over the canal at Jigginstown should be ready in about three years’ time and this would help take traffic off the Caragh Road.
Town clerk Declan Kirrane explained the footbridge had been proposed before Kildare County Council received a grant of £600,000 for a new bridge across the canal at Jigginstown. He said there are no levies available to pay £300,000 for a foot bridge.
Meanwhile, improvements to the tune of £50,000 are planned for the Caragh Road.
Besides the £10,000 for shuttle lights, £5,000 will be spent on a new footpath across the existing bridge; £20,000 to extend the footpath out to the Sports Grounds and £15,000 for public lighting from the bridge to the Sports Grounds.
It was agreed the town clerk make any levies available to have all the jobs carried out as soon as possible. Officials are also to put their concerns about the footbridge and railing to Kildare County Council.