Minister to look again at M9 service area

Transport minister Leo Varadker TD has agreed to take another look at the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed M9 service area at Baronsland, Halverstown, writes Brian Byrne, following a meeting last night with a delegation representing local businesses in the area.

The meeting at Leinster House lasted an hour, and according to Cllr Ivan Keatley he 'took all views on board'.

"He has agreed to reply to the group in writing within a week to ten days," says the councillor, who with FG colleague Martin Heydon TD arranged the meeting. "Obviously our main concern is that taxpayers money is not being spent on infranstructure before private investment is secured for the service station."

Preparations are already in train by the NRA of a €25m programme to build the service area infrastructure at Halverstown. Local businesses who previously provided such services in the area, and who have suffered badly by being bypassed, say they can give the service with the provision of a ramp link at Kilgowan which would cost less than €200,000.

The issue is against the background of a 'drastically reduced' €100 million budget for road-project funding in 2012 recently announced by Minister Varadkar, which he said will be focussed on dealing with black spots, maintenance and upgrading.

The businesses already affected by being bypassed say the location of the services area is far too close to Dublin to be viable in terms of the investment.

"The volume of traffic on the old road was upwards of 18,000 a day, which was able to support the services that are now off-line," says Tom Wall of the Priory pub and restaurant at Kilgowan. "The volumes on the new motorway are substantially down, at around 12,000, and there are about 2,000 vehicles a day still using the old road. With four service stations already on the road out of Dublin before hitting the motorway at Naas, there's really not enough business to warrant a services area here—it should be located somewhere down near Paulstown in Co Kilkenny."

The local businesses, including Tom Wall and Seamus O'Reilly who has a service station complex just three minutes off the motorway, strongly advocated the provision of a slip road off the motorway at Kilgowan before the actual bypass, but to no avail.

"It would only have cost €150,000 to build and we offered to donate some of our land to provide proper parking for trucks and cars at the location," says Tom Wall. "But the NRA didn't want to know."

A reduced speed limit is now in place at Halverstown pending the beginning of advance works for the services area.



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