Roadworks that have been causing severe delays to motorists at Monasterevin may finish ahead of schedule, Kildare County Council said yesterday.
The laying of new sewerage pipes at the Kildare town has reduced traffic to a single lane on part of the N7, which links Dublin to Portlaoise, Limerick and Cork.
Tailbacks of up to two hours were reported by motorists at the weekend, but the council said the roadworks were not solely to blame.
Mr Charlie Talbot, a Kildare County Council spokesman, said there was a deficiency in capacity on that road, so two- mile tailbacks were common, even without the roadworks.
He said the contractor was working 12 hour days and was working throughout the weekend to speed up the €8 million project.
It had been thought that the job would take up to five weeks but it was now hoped that the work would be finished within three weeks.
Last week, a local business man, Mr Fergus Byrne, of Discount Fuels, said the congestion was so bad he had been forced to close his business for a period of the works. He said the roadworks should be done at night or during off-peak hours and asked why there was no written notification of the works.
However, Mr Talbot said Mr Byrne's staff were notified of the works and that the works did not prevent access to the premises. He said the work could not be done at night as the deep trench would have to be filled in every morning and the barriers removed if the road was to be put back to its original state.
"That would be a very inefficient way of doing things. There would also be safety issues because of night visibility," he said.
Mr Talbot said the traffic problems on that road would dramatically improve when two new by-passes opened.
