Public information event on National Cycle Network (NCN) plans for two Kildare villages

Kildare County Council in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have arranged a public information event for Tuesday September 2 from 3 - 7pm in the Parish Hall, Moone regarding the National Cycle Network (NCN) Roadspace re-allocation Pilot on the R448 at Moone and Timolin.

Representatives from TII, Kildare County Council and the pilot project designers AECOM will be in attendance and available to respond to any queries raised.

The public information event will also provide details on how the local community can provide feedback to the project team on their experiences using the pilot project over the coming months.

READ NEXT: Reduced travel fares as new Child Leap Card products introduced to Kildare

The National Cycle Network (NCN) Plan was published by the Minister for Transport in 2024.  This plan identifies various infrastructure types which are suitable for use on the NCN with, for reasons of road safety, an emphasis on physical segregation between cyclists and vehicular traffic on busier roads and shared space between cyclists and vehicular traffic on low trafficked roads.

It was agreed with the Minster for Transport and his officials that pilots and trials of these concepts needed to be undertaken to prove the concept before they could be rolled out more broadly.  The R448 Moone Timolin Pilot Roadspace Reallocation Project was identified as a suitable pilot location.

The scheme has been designed in accordance with all the relevant design standards and has been subject to a Stage 1 and 2 Road Safety Audit by an independent design team.  A further Stage 3 Road Safety Audit will take place following the completion of construction works.

As this is a pilot project, the current works on the R448 contain four different segregation types and it is proposed to evaluate the efficacy of each of these once in place.  This will be done using a number of different criteria including, amongst others, ease of construction, behaviour of motorists, general road safety, views and perceptions of cyclists and pedestrians as well as any increases in usage.

It is intended that post opening surveys and audits will take place on the completed scheme to gather the data to inform this evaluation.