Where do Kerry’s roads rank nationally?

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

Kerry’s road quality has improved since 2024, with regional and local primary roads ranking fourth nationally among local authorities.

According to an annual local authority audit, nearly 50pc of regional roads had a very high quality rating in 2025 while local primary roads showed similar quality levels.

Local secondary and tertiary roads, however, let the county down, with The Kerryman’s analysis ranking the quality of these roads at 11th and 12th nationally.

National Oversight and Audit Commission used the Pavement Surface Condition Index (PSCI) rating system to analyse road quality across the 31 local authorities in 2025.

The system consists of a scale of one to 10, with 10 indicating brand new or perfect road surface and one meaning the road is virtually undrivable.

Kerry County Council was ranked fourth nationally in terms of percentage of regional road that was rated PSCI seven or over, behind only Kilkenny, Leitrim and Kildare.

Nearly 50pc of Kerry’s regional roads (48.17pc) scored a PSCI rating of nine or over.

It was a similar story for local primary roads, with the local authority area ranked fourth for PSCI seven or over.

Nearly 84pc of inspected roads were found to be a PSCI seven or over, marking 3pc increase from 2024.

Kerry fell down the rankings for local secondary and tertiary roads, scoring 11th and 13th respectively for PSCI seven or over.

Local tertiary roads had were assessed to have a significant 14pc of roads below a PSCI rating of 5.

However, in both categories, the county saw small improvements on 2024.