NEW public realm plans for Adare, due to be in place ahead of Ryder Cup 2027, will make the village’s shared road surface safer for all users, and a more “pleasant” experience for pedestrians.
That’s according to Fianna Fáil councillor Bridie Collins, who is lucky enough to call the picturesque tourist hotspot home.
A Part 8 proposal for the Main Street of Adare, as well as sections of the L1423 and Station Road, was passed at this month’s district meeting. The scheme will include widening and improving footpaths in the village core and approach routes.
The plans will see the construction of three controlled and two uncontrolled pedestrian crossings and upgrades to existing crossings to improve pedestrian connectivity and road safety.
The Adare public realm will also include new public lighting on Main Street, new landscaping and sustainable drainage systems, new street furniture and replacement of signage.
The Limerick Post met with Cllr Bridie Collins on Adare’s Main Street to discuss the plans. Immediately, one of the first positives of the proposed scheme is highlighted, as we have to step off the narrow footpath to allow a group of American tourists pass.
“As you’ve just seen, at the minute, you have to step off the path to allow people to pass. It certainly doesn’t work for pushchairs, it doesn’t work for wheelchairs, plus you have very little room for street furniture,” Cllr Collins points out.
“You wouldn’t have room for bins. You don’t have room for seats. You don’t have room for anything like that. So the whole idea is to widen the footpaths, and widening the experience for the pedestrian while calming the traffic.”
She adds that the picturesque village currently has “somewhere in the region of 20,000 vehicles coming through everyday, which has a traffic-slowing effect in itself. But when we have the bypass next June, the traffic number coming through the village will be down to maybe 6,000 a day, which has the potential to increase the speed.”
“This is really about road safety to make sure we are not offering the driver a wide carriageway to increase their speed. We’re focusing on the pedestrian. We’re focusing on their experience and their safety by slowing the traffic down.”
She is also keen to point out that Adare is a “rural setting” and predominantly agricultural, and wants all road users, from pedestrians to motorists, taken into account with this new scheme.
“We also have two big employers, Samco and JPG Freight, out the Blackabbey Road – two very important companies, which we have to pay cognisance to. They are currently driving these roads and have to navigate the traffic. So, when this bypass happens and traffic calming measures are in, it should make it easier for them. This is a shared surface and we want to make it safe for both pedestrians and for the drivers,” she concludes.
Work on the nine-month construction scheme is expected to begin later this summer and must be completed ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup.
– Local Democracy Reporting Scheme