Not all of Kildare's bridges can be made safe for pedestrians

Bridges are proving to be obstacles across  County Kildare.

Despite having a  population of about 250,000 and an increasing emphasis on active travel (walking and cycling), some bridges are just not suitable.

A request for that the council carry out an analysis on “restricted bridges” in the Naas area was made by Cllr Fintan Brett.

But according to Kildare County Council this will be a “significant undertaking” involving a large number of public bodies.

Waterways Ireland own a large number of restrictive bridges in Kildare on the Royal

Canal, Grand Canal, Naas Branch and Barrow Line and most of  these would be considered restrictive.

Irish Rail also own a large number of bridges in Kildare along the rail lines through Leixlip, Maynooth, Kilcock, and through Sallins, Newbridge, Kildare and Athy. The majority of these are also considered restrictive in nature with only a few capable of providing full active travel measures.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) own many bridges across the  motorway network. Although these are fairly new they have not been built with full vulnerable road users access in mind.

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KCC is  responsible for any bridges on the regional and local road network and operates a bridge programme which ensures those bridges are maintained in a proper manner and, where damaged, are repaired as soon as possible. In many cases, bridges have heritage and architectural protections which make any interventions very complex.

River towns are a particular issue when it comes to bridges. Ballymore Eustace, Kilcullen, Athgarvan, Newbridge, Caragh, Clane, Celbridge and Leixlip on the Liffey and Athy and Monasterevin on the Barrow have what would be considered restrictive bridges – bridges that are also given a very strong weight in terms of heritage or architectural protection.

This also applies to  to smaller rivers such as the Rye, Lyreen, Griese. Efforts have been made to deal with restrictive bridge scenarios like the Athy Distributor Road which crosses the rail line and Barrow as well as  the Newbridge southern outer orbital,  Celbridge Hazelhatch mobility corridor and the Celbridge. 

The greenway programme is providing new vulnerable road users bridges at certain canal

Locations like Sallins. There is no specific programme to improve rail crossings but projects in Maynooth and Athy have rail corridor crossings.

When planning applications are submitted the need for improvements to deal with restrictive brides are considered.