Tipperary County Council surveys public on demand for proposed Ardfinnan pedestrian bridge

Tipperary County Council is conducting two community surveys about user demand for the proposed Ardfinnan Pedestrian & Cycle Bridge as part of its task of building up a business case for the river crossing.

One of the user-demand community surveys is targeted at residents of Ardfinnan and its environs while the other is for Ardfinnan National School’s parents, staff and students.

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The four-page questionnaire asks the public to broadly identify the area zone in Ardfinnan and its environs where they live and work in, what mode of transport they use to travel to and from work and how many days per week they travel to and from work?

The survey asks how often they cross the existing Ardfinnan Bridge for shopping, social and personal trips during a typical week?

It requests respondents to indicate whether they visit the village’s shop, pharmacy, Post Office, church, credit union, health centre, playground, amenity walk and bus stop on a typical week and what mode of transport they use.

The survey also asks if improved walking and cycling facilities were provided in Ardfinnan would it change your mode of transport choice for these trips?

The Council says the survey for the general public is available to fill out online since Monday, May 26 at:  https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ovearup/ardfinnan-pedestrian-cycle-bridge-community-survey   

The survey is also highlighted on the Tipperary County Council website’s consultations portal.

Hard copies of the survey are available in Burke’s XL Shop in Ardfinnan for people who don’t wish to fill it out online.
There is a submissions box in the shop where completed surveys can be placed.

The surveys will be collected at the end of the survey period after June 20.

Ardfinnan National School is notifying parents of children attending Ardfinnan National School and others in the school commmunity about the survey.

Kieran McKenna, Senior Executive Engineer with Tipperary County Council’s Active Travel section, said the survey was a continuation of the public consultation the Council carried out last December in relation to the preliminary designs for the proposed Ardfinnan Pedestrian & Cycle Bridge.

He explained the survey was a data gathering exercise for the business case the Council is putting together to submit to the National Transport Authority for the proposed pedestrian and cycle bridge.

“It's really to set the scene for the National Transport Authority to make an informed decision.”

Mr Kenna explained the project is currently at the third phase Preliminary Design stage of a seven stage process.

If the NTA approves the Council’s business case for the new bridge, the project will progress to the fourth stage of design and planning.

The new pedestrian and cycle bridge is being proposed to enable the existing Ardfinnan Bridge return to a two-way traffic system.

A one-way traffic system has operated on the historic bridge for the past decade with a controversial traffic light system controlling traffic travelling over the crossing.

The Council introduced the one way system because it deemed the bridge too narrow to accommodate two lanes of traffic and a pedestrian footpath.

The local community, however, has campaigned for a separate pedestrian and cycle bridge to be built across the River Suir in the village to allow two-way-traffic flow return to Ardfinnan Bridge.

Ardfinnan Community Council, Ardfinnan National School and local businesses have argued the traffic tailbacks caused by the one-way system poses a safety hazard to local school children and residents and is negatively impacting village’s businesses, tourism and appearance.