THE WORLD-famous scenic route winding its way to Dingle through mountains and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean along by Inch Strand is to be straightened out under plans by Kerry County Council and the National Roads Authority.
It is also to be a pilot scheme for the NRA’s new “type-three single-carriageway” road, with one-way cycle lanes on either side of the three-metre-wide single-lane carriageways.
However, some tourist operators in the region are raising concerns that the character of the traditional road into the west Kerry Gaeltacht will be lost under the project, which is likely to be completed over four years.
Some 250 landowners between Camp and the eastern edges of Dingle have been contacted with details of compulsory purchase orders.
Work has already begun along a 4km section from Annascaul to Gortbreagoge under a separate scheme.
The multimillion-euro programme of straightening and widening, involving more than 28km of the N86 between Camp and Dingle, is to follow the existing route and it is to be funded under a national programme for just four national secondary road schemes in the State under the so-called low-volume national secondary tourist route programme.
The type-three single-carriageway road, also an NRA pilot scheme, with one-way cycle lanes on either side of the three-metre-wide single-lane carriageways, will give the new road to Dingle a total road width of 16m.
The existing N86 road has been deemed “sub-standard”. The wider, straighter road will allow for more overtaking and improve safety, especially for heavy goods trucks and buses, the council has said.
Hard strips are to separate the cycle lanes from the traffic lanes.
Tour guide John Hickey, who lives in Minard near Lispole, is questioning the need for such a large project – the 4km under way is costing more than €4.5 million, not including land purchase – when small Gaeltacht schools like Lispole are under threat.