Row over traffic calming measues on Muckross Road in Killarney continues

The chief executive of Kerry County Council has rejected calls made at a public meeting to halt works narrowing the busiest tourist route in Ireland — Killarney’s Muckross Road.

A furious row has erupted in the top tourist town over half-completed traffic calming measures on the national secondary route, the N71.

The two-way carriageway used by tour buses, a tourist road train, horse-drawn carriages, delivery lorries and thousands of visiting vehicles is to be reduced in width to 6.5 metres to facilitate footpaths for cyclists and walkers. Overall, traffic arrangements in Killarney came in for huge criticism during the summer of 2015, due to confusion over some junctions, regular traffic delays, unsynchronised traffic lights and the emergence of ‘rat runs’ through side roads.