Council approves Kilmacanoge N11 safety improvements and moves 3rd lane N/M11 scheme forward

Wicklow County Council approved the long awaited N11 safety scheme at Kilmacanoge. This will have a separated 50 kph lane from Bray South junction to Kilmac and all access/exit from premise will be from that lane. The main N11 will be separated by a raised section and posts and will have a speed limit of 80 or 100 kph.

Similar to a section of the N4 at Lucan it will greatly improve safety. Costing €2.5m work should start this year and be complete in a year. It will involve 2 or 3 overhead gantries to indicate which lane to use.

A number of Councillors, including Cllr Fox and myself, requested that access would be provided at the back of the houses with a new cul de sac road. However the Council committed to do this in future but wanted to quickly put the separate lane into operation. It is hoped that this will also allow a pedestrian and cycle path to Bray separate from the very busy N11.

The Council also agreed to accept the design responsibility for all the 22 km N11 improvement scheme from the M50 to Coynes Cross, including the 2 km in Dun Laoghaire. This allows a design team to be formed with the National Road Design Office.

‘This is essential for the prosperity of East Wicklow and has been a long time coming. In 2014 I met with then Minister of Transport, Leo Varadkar with Simon Harris, Andrew Doyle and Cllr John Ryan which eventually led to the study which recommended a 3rd lane. This is a massive project which will cost over €100m and it will take to 2022 before work starts on site’ said Cllr. Derek Mitchell.