[PR] Loughrea Bypass open 25th November

Victor

The N6 Loughrea Bypass is due to open on 25th November, 2005.

http://www.nra.ie/

Victor

http://www.nra.ie/News/PressReleases/htmltext,1930,en.html

“Transport 21 places a heavy focus on developing the whole transport networks along the Western Seaboard”

Transport Minister, Martin Cullen, T.D. visited Loughrea, County Galway today (Friday, 25th November 2005) where he officially opened the N6 Loughrea Bypass. Construction work began on the project in September 2004 and is opening almost 2 months ahead of schedule.

“This project is yet further testimony to the Government’s commitment to upgrading the national transport networks. Loughrea will now join a list of towns, including Kildare, Monasterevin and Cashel, that are no longer famous for their bottlenecks”,
stated Minister Cullen.

Loughrea Bypass is 3.75 km in length and cost €18 million. It is funded by the Government under the National Development Plan and is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.

Minister Cullen said:

“I am pleased to officially open Loughrea Bypass – one vital piece of road infrastructure that forms an intrinsic part of the proposed 56 km Ballinasloe East to Galway scheme. With the removal of 10,000 vehicles per day from Loughrea, the town will be given back to its people and visitors will be afforded a much more relaxed and enjoyable visit or stay in the town. Industry will also benefit from the ease of traffic and greater journey time certainty. Another key project in the West is the N4 Kilcock/Kinnegad scheme which is due to open next month and will bring the total road openings in 2005 to ten. Six of these are in the BMW region.”

The Minister said that good progress is being made in improving the National roads programme network throughout the country. Fifty four schemes have been completed since 2000 to date, including major projects on the M1 from Dublin to Dundalk, the N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road, the N11 Glen of the Downs, and work is underway on others including the N18 Ennis Bypass, N2 Ashbourne and the N15 Ballyshannon/Bundoran Bypasses.

There are a number of other projects already underway or well advanced in planning on the N6 at present. Phase 1 of the Kinnegad/Athlone (Kinnegad-Kilbeggan) is currently in construction and is due to be completed in 2007. Phase 2 is at an advanced planning stage and is due to start in 2006. Ballinasloe/Galway and Athlone/Ballinasloe projects are also making good progress, with construction due to start in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Projects such as these, Minister Cullen said

“provide a good start to Transport 21. At its core, Transport 21 forms an integrated approach to meeting Ireland’s transport needs underpinned by sustained high levels of investment. It will improve our competitiveness, promote more balanced regional development and improve the quality of life for everybody living here and our tourists who visit here.”

The Minister thanked all involved in the Loughrea Bypass project and asked all drivers throughout the country to drive with care and respect for other road users and help make our roads safer this Christmas season.

Mr. Peter Malone, Chairman of the National Roads Authority said:

“2005 has been a very productive year the National Roads Authority and has seen an unprecedented level of activity on the national road network including a significant number of schemes aimed at improving access to the West. The Kilcock/lKinnegad scheme will open next month, well ahead of schedule, while work is progressing on the the Kinnegad to Kilbeggan scheme and tenders are due in next month for the Kilbeggan/Athlone section of the Galway/Dublin route. An emerging feature of the network is long continuous sections of motorway and high quality dual carriageway. The completion of major scheme on budget and ahead of schedule is as a result of a number of initiatives undertaken by the Authority and our commitment to achieving value for money.”

For further information please contact NRA Press Office 01 6602511

Maps and stupid animations http://www.galwaycoco.ie/roads/N6_loughrea/map.html#

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/6830648?view=Eircomnet

Residents' 'torture' ends as new bypass clears way through bottleneck to west
From:The Irish Independent
Saturday, 26th November, 2005
Brian McDonald

A NEW bypass opened yesterday ending the biggest bottleneck between Dublin and the west.

The new 3.75km carriageway will remove more than 10,000 vehicles a day from the east Galway town of Loughrea.

It will cut the Dublin-Galway travel time for motorists by up to 20 minutes at peak times.

The bypass was completed two months ahead of schedule and within budget at a cost of €18m.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen, who opened the project, said it was further testimony to the Government's commitment to upgrading the national transport network.

"Loughrea will now join a list of towns, including Kildare, Monasterevin and Cashel that are no longer famous for their bottlenecks," he said.

Mr Cullen said the bypass would form an intrinsic part of the proposed 56km Ballinasloe to Galway scheme.

He noted that when the new N4 Kilcock-Kinnegad scheme was completed next month it would bring to 10 the number of major road openings to be carried out in 2005. He was particularly pleased to point out that six of these were in the Border, Midlands and West region.

Local Minister of State, Noel Treacy noted that when Galway County Council first proposed a bypass for Loughrea on April 4, 1964, he was still in national school.

He said he knew of no community in West of Ireland which had endured so much for so long, or which was more deserving of the relief that the new bypass would bring to their lives.

"The town's residents, property owners and business people will no longer have to endure the torture of their living space being snarled and blighted by a crawl of pollution-belching traffic, much of it heavy-goods vehicles." Referring to future transport plans for the west, Mr Cullen told reporters the Western Rail Corridor could be opened in its entirety if local authorities planned residential and commercial developments along a defined route.

johnnyrotten

Why oh why when they're building these new roads ,don't they make them Motorways?

murphaph

Well in this case the reasoning is sound. The town of Loughrea is quite some distance south of the proposed N6 dual carriageway between Galway and balinasloe. A link road will run north from this new bypass to that dual carriageway. The bypass will still be needed post N6 dual carriageway as local Galway bound traffic will use it. It's the likes of the Nenagh bypass that should have been questioned.

loyatemu

murphaph wrote:

Well in this case the reasoning is sound. The town of Loughrea is quite some distance south of the proposed N6 dual carriageway between Galway and balinasloe. A link road will run north from this new bypass to that dual carriageway. The bypass will still be needed post N6 dual carriageway as local Galway bound traffic will use it. It's the likes of the Nenagh bypass that should have been questioned.

AFAIK the nenagh bypass is going to be widened to become part of the N7 dual carriageway - would it have been better to leave Nenagh unbypassed for 5 or more years while the details of the longer road were hammered out?

murphaph

loyatemu wrote:

AFAIK the nenagh bypass is going to be widened to become part of the N7 dual carriageway - would it have been better to leave Nenagh unbypassed for 5 or more years while the details of the longer road were hammered out?

No, but the widening is not going to be a simple matter as the cuttings are too narrow and doubt remains as to whether or not the overbridges are wide enough. I remember reading some time ago that the N7 dualling will require the existing Nenagh bypass to become one carriageway and a new carriageway will have to be constructed to the south. If this turns out to be true then it was a monumentally stupid exercise in short-sightedness, considering the Nenagh bypass was not built during a time of harsh economic realties, quite the opposite. They should at least have made the cuttings wide enough to accomodate a dual carriageway, even if one wasn't constructed at the time.

Maskhadov

Mr Cullen said the bypass would form an intrinsic part of the proposed 56km Ballinasloe to Galway scheme.

When is that expected/completed to start then ?

dubhthach

Maskhadov wrote:

When is that expected/completed to start then ?

Completion date is scheduled for 2010 or thereabouts, they basically just finished the initial archaelogy on the route. I think what they are doing next is going to the Tender process. So given the finish date expect 2007 or thereabouts for start date.