Public to have their say on major new road running through county Kilkenny

Moves to develop a major road running through county Kilkenny took another leap forward today as the public consultation process began in earnest.

The N24 Waterford – Cahir road is a 60km in length section which runs from Junction 10 on the M8 Cahir North Roundabout in county Tipperary to the M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway at the Quarry Roundabout in Grannagh, county Kilkenny.

More than 22km of the current N24 runs through county Kilkenny and serves Kilmacow, Mooncoin, Fiddown and Piltown before crossing into Tipperary at Three Bridges just outside Carrick-on-Suir.

The N24 is recognised as being of importance in enhancing regional connectivity and increasing accessibility to key towns it passes through, including , Cahir, Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir, Mooncoin and Piltown.

There have been calls recently to reexamine whether the N24 Waterford -Limerick road should be the preferred route for the new Cork-Limerick motorway, connecting Waterford, Cork and Limerick at the M8 in Cahir.

Kilkenny County Council is taking the lead on the project which is being developed in partnership with Tipperary County Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the Department of Transport (DoT).

The purpose of this non-statutory public consultation is to inform the public of the study area for the project, the key constraints identified to date and the programme for advancement of the project.

Public Consultation on the Constraints Study for the project began yesterday and runs until June 1, 2021.

The Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Andrew McGuinness, said: “The public consultation stage of major infrastructure projects is an integral part of the planning and design process.

“The purpose of this project is to significantly improve transport connectivity along the N24 and result in more efficient access to other strategic national routes while improving road safety.

“I would encourage members of the public to ‘have their say’ and engage with the online public consultation platform and the Project Team throughout the various stages of this project,” Cllr McGuinness (pictured below) added.