Safe crossing for schoolchildren called for in Kildare village

A Fine Gael councillor has called on Kildare County Council to identify “the most suitable design/location” for a pedestrian crossing in Broadford Village to facilitate the school and church, and to provide a costing estimate for same.

Cllr William Durkan, speaking at a recent Clane-Maynooth municipal district meeting, said that this was an issue which had been raised a number of times over the past few years.

He said that currently, there is no safe crossing for schoolchildren from the car park to the school, or for churchgoers to the church, which was an issue particularly at busy times.

Cllr Durkan said he appreciated the response from the council and the fact that there were a lot of similar requests. However, he said he would appreciate if he could have a detailed costing sent to him separately so that LPT (Local Property Tax) funding could be considered alongside other similar projects.

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Supporting Cllr Durkan's motion, Cllr Brendan Wyse (FG) said there are already a number of traffic calming measures around the school and church in Broadford Village, so that he didn't believe there would be “an excessive amount of work” required to remedy the problem.

There was a similar pedestrian crossing implemented at Johnstownbridge last year which was funded by LPT, he pointed out to the committee.

To him, he said, there was not a major amount of work required in installing a pedestrian crossing in Broadford Village at the location, but a costing estimate was required.

A report from Kildare County Council noted the request “has been added to a list of similar requests in the County and shall be examined when staff resources are available.”