Killarney is facing gridlock because of major new retail developments and the National Roads Authority's (NRA) policy that prevents exits on to the national network, a town council meeting has heard.
However, the NRA has rejected the meeting's criticism, and said it had to protect the national network. It wanted to prevent a repeat of the M50 in which there were too many junctions and off-on ramps.
In a coup for Killarney, the retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) recently announced it was opening an outlet there after its plans for a retail park in Tralee were rejected.
M&S has advertised for staff, and will open in Killarney in May in a shopping park on the eastern edge where Tesco, Argos and other chain stores already operate.
The German chain Aldi has also opened an outlet nearby, and a further multimillion euro 35,000sq m retail centre by the Robert Butler Group is also under way in the former Torc Great Southern Hotel site, also nearby.
However, Fianna Fáil councillor Brian O'Leary told Monday's meeting that no traffic infrastructure had been put in place, and residents in estates in the area were "prisoners in their own homes".
They had been unable to get around in their cars over the Christmas.
The traffic problems would continue because the NRA would not allow access on to the current N22 bypass until a new national route was built, he was told by officials.
A spokesman for the NRA rejected the criticism. He said "safety was paramount" but secondary to that was that public investment had to be managed . It did not want a repeat of the M50 in which too many interchanges now made a €1 billion upgrade necessary.
He said allowing junctions in unnecessary locations turned national routes into local roads.