Work to remove Kilkenny’s ‘Road of Death’ to go ahead despite plans for new route

Works aimed at removing a notorious stretch of road in county Kilkenny, known locally as the ‘Road of Death’, will begin this year as planned.

Last August Kilkenny County Council confirmed that works on the N24 Tower Road Junction Improvement Scheme at Piltown would begin this year.

This week the local authority announced the upgrade of the stretch of the N24 from the Grannagh Junction of the M9 Motorway just outside of Waterford, all the way to the Cahir Junction on the M6, has progressed to the next stage.

However, the council confirmed works to the Tower Road Junction will not be affected by the progress on the new 60km stretch of roadway, which is a few stages behind the development in Piltown.

A council spokesperson told Kilkennynow.ie: “The work on The N24 Tower road safety scheme is proceeding to tender in 2021.

“The construction works will start in late 2021/early 2022. The N24 Waterford to Cahir scheme is at phase 2 which will be first identifying constraints, followed by a number of proposed corridors which will take account of the N24 Tower road scheme and at the end of stage 2 a preferred corridor will be selected,” the spokesperson added.

The news will come as a relief to resident in the Piltown and Fiddown areas who have long campaigned for a flyover to be put in place along the stretch of the N24 between their villages and Carrick-on-Suir.

The stretch of road has been the scene of several road fatalities and horrific collisions since it opened over 20 years ago.