Transport - Thurles Information

Warning To Motorists Travelling In Thurles Area This Weekend.

Persons driving on the Mill Road area, (South east outskirts of Thurles), are being warned to take great care this weekend.

**Crater No. 1, Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Over the past 12 months two craters have developed close to the Lady’s Well entrance, latter situated immediately on the corner, having exited the stone bridge which crosses the Drish River. View HERE

The Mill Road, over the past 24 months, has become the preferred choice of cars and heavy duty vehicles, same anxious to avoid Thurles town centre, because of major traffic delays caused by the recent upgrading of half of the Liberty Square town centre area.

**Crater No. 2, Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Because of a number of issues, which include (A) the flooding of the Drish river; (B) massively increasing & speeding traffic, which also includes heavy transport vehicles; the road surface has begun to now slide into the river.

From what we understand, (although it is difficult to say for certain these days) this roadway is the responsibility of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), whose purpose is to provide sustainable transport infrastructure and services, thus delivering a better quality of life, supporting economic growth and respecting the environment.

We first wrote about this issue last April 20th, 2023, and again on October 15th, 2023, alas, to no avail, despite notification having been sent to Tipperary Co. Council.

Currently, the true dept of these craters is being camouflaged/disguised/concealed by the presence of muddy, oily water.
No advance warning signs are currently in place, despite regular users of this roadway being forced out past the centre of the roadway, into oncoming traffic, on a bad corner bend.

N75 Kickham Street Thurles – Section 38 Of Road Traffic Act 1994.

Liberty Square to Anner Hotel Pavement improvement scheme.

Tipperary County Council Road Traffic Act, 1994
Traffic Calming Measures on N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles

Readers are invited to first read “Councillors To Consider Traffic Calming On Kickham Street, Thurles, On Monday” by clicking HERE

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 38 of the Road Traffic Act, 1994, Tipperary County Council hereby gives notice of its intention to carry out traffic calming measures on the N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles.

The traffic calming measures will form part of a pavement improvement scheme which extends along the N75 at Kickham Street from the junction with Mitchell Street to the 100kph Gateway and the works will include the following;

Road re-surfacing for a distance of approximately 1200m.
Footpath improvement works at defined locations.
Improvements to existing surface water drainage to alleviate existing surface water drainage issues.
Traffic calming works (the subject of this notification) as detailed below.
Improved pedestrian facilities including installation of additional uncontrolled pedestrian crossings.
Provision of revised road signage and markings.

The following traffic calming works will be included as part of the pavement improvement scheme;

Narrowing of carriageway running lanes to 3.25m wide (10.66273ft) on the mainline N75 approaches to the Mill Road roundabout
Minor design change to existing layout of Mill Road roundabout
Minor realignment of a section of N75 mainline carriageway to facilitate roundabout improvements

Drawings and particulars of the proposals are available for inspection at the Thurles Municipal District Offices, Castle Avenue, Thurles, Townparks and may be inspected during normal office hours from Thursday, 16th November, 2023 to Monday, 18th December, 2023 inclusive (excluding weekends and bank holidays).

Submissions regarding the proposed traffic calming measures clearly marked “N75 at Kickham Street, Thurles – Section 38” may be made in writing to Marcus O’ Connor, Director of Services, Tipperary County Council, Civic Offices, Limerick Road, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary on or before 4:30 p.m. on 8th January, 2024.

Signed: Marcus O’Connor (Director of Services, Roads & Transportation)

Tipperary Co. Co. & Thurles Municipal District Officials Ability Called Into Question.

One must seriously call into question the ability of Tipperary County Council and Thurles Municipal District officials, together with their supposedly qualified engineering department, when it comes to street design and basic planning decisions.

**Location: Liberty Square, Thurles. Crossroads sign no longer fit for purpose for those drivers, unfamiliar with the town centre.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Thurles.info has consistently warned of the complete waste of money, when it comes to positioning signposts; pedestrian lighting lamp standards and more recently, giant flower-pot street furniture; latter positioned too close to high sided vehicles, and indeed all vehicles attempting to manoeuvre their way through the mostly narrow medieval streets of Thurles.

Location: Liberty Square, Thurles. New carpark sign supposedly directing parking to the new carpark, no longer fit for purpose, for months pointing in the wrong direction for those visitors unfamiliar with Thurles town.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

The very existence of these high sided vehicles are testament to the failure of two resident TD’s, namely Mr Michael Lowry and Mr Jackie Cahill, who have consistently failed miserable, to obtain a long promised ring-road diversion; now no longer being discussed until 2040, at the very earliest.

**Location: Liberty Square, Thurles.** A giant, now skewed, flowerpot just installed recently. Latter street furniture has become the latest victim to suddenly change its position, courtesy of a vehicle attempting to find a non existent parking space.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Liberty Square, Thurles, Perplexity.

Of course not all of Thurles streets were medieval, until current local elected councillors voted (Part 8) for what can only be described as the total destruction of Liberty Square from a business and traffic perspective, with no imput from local residents or business people being embraced during the planning stage. All businesses remaining in the area and interviewed report at least a 60% drop in customer footfall as a direct result.

Note, the above three pictures are taken within just a few metres of each other on the newly, half updated Liberty Square area of the town centre, where we learn even goods delivery vehicles, same prevented simply attempting to go about their daily business, are being issued with tickets for inescapable parking violations.

Councillors To Consider Traffic Calming On Kickham Street, Thurles, On Monday.

Locally elected councillors will consider ‘Traffic Calming Measures’ for Kickham Street, latter situated on Route N75, east of Thurles town in Co. Tipperary, at tomorrow’s [Monday November 20th, 2023] Municipal District Council monthly meeting,

NOTE: None of the Municipal District Councillors or Municipal District Officials have issued an invitation to any of Kickham Street residents, to attend said meeting, however, we learn from the grapevine that the already proposed changes, are now open for debate, through public consultation, until Monday December 18th next, which will allow for the general public to make submissions, in writing, up until 4:30pm on January 8th 2024.

The proposals for Kickham Street, according to PLANS TO BE FOUND HERE, include improvements to currently almost non-existent drainage; road resurfacing, and the installation of an uncontrolled pedestrian crossings close to Centra. Other improvements appear to include various raised pedestrian crossings at public exit/entrance points. A narrowing of the roadway to create a 3.25 metres wide area, together with a minor design change to the existing roundabout layout, also appears to be planned for Mill Road roundabout/crossroads.
The road, which links to the M8 motorway has a daily traffic movement average of over 5,600 assorted vehicles, with particulate matter and air pollutants impacting on the health of local residents.

‘**End to end’ traffic continuously at a stand-still, while attempting to enter Liberty Square, Thurles**.

The traffic set-up shown in the picture above captures the traffic situation experienced currently between 8:30am and 10:00am, on 6 mornings each week; between 3:00pm and 6:15pm on 6 afternoons each week; and between 7:00pm and 9:30pm, every Friday evening, as parents arrive to drop-off teenage sons & daughters in Liberty Square to attend the local disco venue; forcing vehicles to come to a halt on a single lane framework; on a street where previous adequate parking spaces for vehicles was readily accessible and today now sadly eradicated, to the detriment of the few only remaining, operating businesses.

Eight and ten wheeler *“semi style”* diesel trucks attempting to pass each other, between two rows of terraced houses, on Kickham Street, situated on route N75 and showing the left-hand-side of a vehicle forced to mount the footpath, rather than adjust driver side mirrors.

Surely, almost static traffic movement requires no further ‘Traffic Calming Measures’.
Changes to this section of the N75 route have already been agreed, without any public consultation, and based on previous public discussions regarding areas of the town e.g. Bowe’s Corner, Liberty Square, Slievenamon Road etc, no public concerns expressed, have ever been accepted or adopted.

Tipperary County Council in their Corporate plan 2020-2024 claim, as one of their corporate objectives, to quote “Support the growth in retail activity thereby, increasing the vitality and vibrancy of our town centres”.

Alas, their day dream has long since melted away, with yet another business gone just this month alone, and an indication from another leading business that they will cease to trade after Christmas. And all due, they rightly claim, to what was an avoidable massive decrease in footfall; with ill-advised changes voted as totally acceptable by locally elected councillors; same speeded up by the removal of car-parking spaces and the greedy introduction of hourly vehicle parking charges. (Oh and let’s not forget the public’s total silence on the matter.)

Tipperary County Council May Be Unable To Continue Delivering Basic Public Services.

Tipperary County Council may be unable to continue delivering basic public services next year, due to rising inflation costs unless the government reinstates a special funding stream normally provided for local authorities.
Last year, the government made available a special funding stream for local authorities to deal with rising inflation costs., however, no such extra funding for rising inflation will be coming from government this year, for 2024.

This issue, it is believed by officials, could seriously impact on as yet unidentified maintenance; enhancement works; and other various community projects like unnecessary fireworks displays and festivals.

Here in Thurles the already lack of maintenance has been evident for over the past two years, [See pictures attached with more to be published here soon].

**Sign on the Nenagh Road roundabout unattended for weeks, flattened by the rear wheels of an elongated truck.**

A move has been supported by Councillors to now write to the Minister for Finance Mr Michael McGrath TD, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Mr Paschal Donohoe, expressing grave concerns, and requesting a reversal of this decision.

**Cathedral Street carpark resembling the cratered and pitted surface normally found in lunar geology, and believe me it has never been impacted by any asteroids, meteorites, or comets**.

This issue it is believed could seriously impact on unidentified maintenance; enhancement works, and various community projects.

Could this end up with staff at the lower end of the pay scale finding themselves unemployed, while decision making officials and elected councillors remain sitting back with their feet up, retained on high salaries’ waiting for our financial climate to change.