The latest cycling infrastructure project to attract ire from sections of the local community comes from Kildare in Ireland where farmers have claimed construction on a new 3.5km route means they are having to make diversions on their combines as the road is now too narrow.

Kildare County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland are investing €1.6m to improve active travel routing along the R448 between Moone and Timolin, but the Irish Farmers Journal says the project has prompted criticism from the farming community, some saying they are having to avoid the road entirely when using their larger vehicles. 

The Irish farming news site said the 3.5km stretch, currently subject to roadworks while the infrastructure is installed, is too narrow for large combines and farmers are “struggling to use the road because of the works and that larger combines have had to divert from using the road completely”.

A local resident from the Moone Timolin Positive Action Group claimed to the news site that last week two articulated lorries lost wing mirrors, due to them passing on a narrow stretch, the damage apparently costing €1,200 per mirror to replace.

Mark Hilliard also suggested a delivery driver had “lost a tyre because of the high kerbs”, although no further details of how that incident unfolded were published.

“Nobody asked for it and nobody will use it. It’s a North Korean-style capital project,” he said. “By anybody’s standards, it’s a complete and utter white elephant. We’ve had no help from elected representatives – it’s a disaster. It’s our desire that the roadway is put back to the way it was or, at the very least, engagement from Kildare County Council. This has been rammed down our throats.”

The Irish Cycling Campaign has expressed concerns too, notably last year when the project was consulted upon.

“In short, ICC is disappointed at the poor quality of the consultation material presented and the dearth of background context,” the group said at the time. “We urge Kildare County Council and TII to revisit the material and the general proposed designs, and to give interested parties, such as ourselves, a clear idea of why this trial is being proposed and where this design proposal fits into the national context.”

While the campaign group said, naturally, it was happy to see such a cycling infrastructure project being advanced, there remained concerns about the “shoddy presentation of this important pilot scheme”.

“In the assumed context of the long term development of a National Cycle Network (NCN), any proposed developments along these lines need to be clearly signposted, explained, and contextualised,” the group told the council. “While the presented material provides food for thought, there is not enough background explanation of why different systems have been chosen or different junction types proposed. We elaborate on our criticisms below. Public consultation should be about clarity and ease of access overall. This is not the case here.”

Daytime works are set to run from July until December, with temporary traffic management in pace for the duration of the cycle route’s installation. Kildare County Council said it apologises for any inconvenience caused during the period.