Traffic count underway to assess safety on road serving huge Glanbia plant on Laois Kilkenny border

A traffic county is underway on a very busy stretch of road on the Laois Kilkenny border to find out if more safety measures are needed.

Volumes are being counted on the Durrow to Ballyragget road on the Ballyconra to Ballyragget stretch. Apart from being the main road linking Laois to Kilkenny, the biggest multi puropose dairy plant in Europe run by Glanbia is located on the road.

According to a report in the Kilkenny People newspaper, Cllr Maurice Shortall has requested Transport Infrastructure Ireland to take both the dairy plant and a turn to Lisdowney into consideration. He believes more safety measures including signs are needed.

"Statistics and movement of vehicles at Glanbia speak for themselves," he said.

Processing up to 1 billion litres of milk, 900 million litres of whey and 180,000 tonnes of dairy ingredients annually, Glanbia describes its Ballyragget facility is the "largest multi-purpose integrated dairy plant in Europe". 

Substantial work was carried out to improve road safety on the Durrow side of the Glanbia plant in recent years. A twisty, undulating stretch of road was completely bypassed with a new section that runs parallel with the River Nore.