Kinsale locals 'dreading' summer tourist season due to 'chaotic' traffic
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The success of the Wild Atlantic Way tourism route has left residents and businesses in a Cork town “dreading” the summer season due to traffic congestion.
Kinsale is the last southern stop on the 1,600-mile-long route that takes in Irelands’s Atlantic coastal counties, from West Cork to Donegal.
A meeting of Cork County Council’s Western Committee heard the success of the tourism route has left the town swamped with traffic.
"We have people bypassing the town because they don’t want to come into us. We have businesses suffering and people aren’t stopping because they find the traffic chaotic. We are delighted to be on the Wild Atlantic Way but it has its pitfalls when the infrastructure isn’t there to support it," said Fine Gael councillor Marie O’Sullivan
"Kinsale has seen phenomenal growth in its housing stock over the last five years. Being really conservative, there has been a potential population growth figure of 25% since the last transportation study. There have been no significant transport infrastructure changes in Kinsale over this period.”
Councillor Kevin Murphy said the issue had been ignored for many years and the Wild Atlantic Way had made a bad situation even worse.
"There is no doubt that at peak times the streets really can’t cope with the levels of traffic passing through.
“A lot of people probably don’t realise that more than half the traffic in Kinsale is through traffic, they just want to get to the other side of the town."
Clodagh Henehen, divisional manager for West Cork, said a National Transport Authority (NTA) project was currently under way aimed at improving local transport connections.
She said: “This will deliver sustainability transport goals that were set out in the recently adopted County Development Plan.
"The intention is to build on the modal shift opportunities provided through the upgrade of the public bus facilities which were done four or five years ago.
"It’s really important to try and provide opportunities for cycling, pedestrians, for alternatives to reduce the need to use cars within the town.
"I do agree that an awful lot of development has happened in recent years and is on the cards for the town and the town is under pressure.”
Cork County Council’s director of roads Padraig Barrett said: “The only show in town for mobility improvement is with pedestrian and sustainable travel improvements.
"That doesn’t mean to say that we don’t need investment in our roads. There are a lot of things to be looked at, but as of now, I would encourage that we support the NTA in what they want to do in Kinsale.”