ABOUT
About the Project
Wicklow County Council, in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have appointed Roughan and O’Donovan (ROD) Consulting Engineers as technical advisors to progress the project from consideration of Options (which may include looking at both on-line and off-line options), selection of Preferred Improvement Options and to take the project through the Statutory Processes before developing a Detailed Design, phases 2 – 4 of the PMG TII Project Phases. The N81 Whitestown Lower and N81 Hangman’s Bend & Tuckmill project contains two sections:
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The N81 Whitestown Lower Project study area is approximately 2km long extending from the Castleruddery Junction to the south to the Ballylion Junction to the north.
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The N81 Hangman’s Bend Scheme and Tuckmill Project study area is approximately 4km long extending from Raheen Junction to the south to Hangman’s Bend to the north.
N81 Whitestown Lower Project
N81 Hangman’s Bend and Tuckmill Project
Project Background
The N81 is approximately 76km long from the M50 in Dublin to the N80 in Carlow travelling through the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Carlow. The N81 is the only National Secondary route emerging from Dublin City, serving as an invaluable link between strategic national road corridors (M50 and N80) and serving a rural demographic.
The 12km section of the N81 between Merginstown crossroads (The Old Tollhouse) and the urban speed limit zone entering Baltinglass has a poor road safety record.
Kildare National Roads Office prepared a Feasibility Report for four N81 projects in October 2022. These were the N81 Tuckmill Lower, N81 Hangman’s Bend, N81 Whitestown Lower and N81 Irishtown West. It was decided to progress the scheme to PMG Phase 2 as two projects based on the findings of the study. These are the N81 Whitestown Lower and N81 Hangman’s Bend and Tuckmill Projects.
Project Objectives
The project objectives for the N81 Whitestown Lower and N81 Hangman’s Bend & Tuckmill project have been determined based on the guidance provided in Transport Appraisal Framework (TAF) which was published by the Department of Transport in June 2023. Based on the issues identified with the existing network, project specific objectives have been developed and are summarised below:
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Objective 1: Safety - Reduce Collision Rates
Reduce the current annual collision rate along these sections of the N81 so that the 5-year average collision rate is reduced to below the national average
Objective 2: Safety - Reduce Severity of Impacts
Reduce the severity of collision along these sections of the N81 so that the 5-year average rate of fatal, serious and minor injury accidents is reduced to below the national average rate.
Objective 3: Local Environmental - River Slaney SAC
Avoid significant adverse impacts on the internationally important River Slaney Special Area for Conservation, which should be determined through the completion of appropriate environmental assessments during the design and planning process.
Objective 4: Local Environmental - Cultural and Heritage Sites
Avoid significant adverse impacts on archaeological remains, historic standing structures and/ or more broadly disrupting the aesthetics of historical landscapes, which should be determined through the completion of appropriate environmental assessments during the design and planning process.
