Junction of Kylemore Road and Le Fanu Road to be upgraded as part of BusConnects

The junction at Kylemore Road and Le Fanu Road in Ballyfermot will be upgraded as part of the BusConnects programme in the future.

The Kylemore Road/Le Fanu Road junction is part of future plans in the National Transport Authority’s bus service upgrade programme and the local council are currently awaiting a detailed design from the NTA and the BusConnects team.

BusConnects has had a hand in changing buses across all of Dublin, including the introduction of the 80 for those in Palmerstown and Chapelizod and the F-Spines, to name a few.

The aim of the programme is to improve the bus services available to commuters across Dublin and other areas of the country.

Councillor Vincent Jackson welcomed the news and described the current situation at the Kylemore/Le Fanu junction as “bedlam.”

The Ballyfermot-Drimnagh councillor told the council that he had picked up an elderly person at Father Bidone Court in Kilmainham and gave them a lift to Ballyfermot Civic Centre that lasted over 40 minutes.

Cllr Jackson said: “I’m involved in Kylemore [College] there for the last 36 years. That’s our boundary on Kylemore Road and on Le Fanu Road and it’s just bedlam there with cars.

“It was never like that. In the last two or three years, it’s just gotten exponentially worse in every aspect and you can’t turn onto Kylemore if you’re going up towards Walkinstown from Le Fanu there.

“Now I know people will say, ‘there’s other ways to go’ – it took me 43 minutes last Friday!”

Kylemore College isn’t the only school affected by the traffic issues at the junction in Ballyfermot.

Councillor Daithí Doolan noted that staff at St Seton’s Secondary School have had issues moving from one campus to another for different classes throughout the schoolday.

Cllr Doolan requested that the council install a filter road so that those who are commuting between the campuses on Le Fanu Road and Convent Lawns can do so without adding too much to the “traffic chaos.”

The council noted that the junction appears “too narrow” to accommodate a filter lane to help alleviate some traffic and would necessitate changes to the signalling at the location, which was only changed a few years ago.

The councillor said: “They’re saying the traffic alone has made life very difficult for teachers because they’re trying to move between the two campuses and cars.

“So, not only are they contributing to the traffic chaos, they’re part of the traffic chaos…

“…They’re in between classes trying to drive up and down. It’s not sustainable – they need a proper school – but in the meantime, if it could be facilitated with some traffic intervention, it would be a great help and appreciated.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.