N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

Mayodad

Off topic, but does anyone have a map of the proposed works on the N60 between Balla and Claremorris?

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120239682#Comment_120239682

No footpath was originally planned here, it is only included because ABP made it a condition of granting planning permission for the new road. It is possible that the design team added the footpath but did not widen the underpass to accommodate it, hence the narrow lanes. This is just speculation on my part though.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120240260#Comment_120240260

That's a massive oversight surely!

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120240443#Comment_120240443

It would be pretty scandalous haha! To be honest, I think the width is most likely OK. The picture shared by the local councillor is a bit misleading due to the traffic cones. If you look at the width from kerb to kerb it looks wide enough for two trucks.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120240872#Comment_120240872

Connaught Telegraph going on about a “fault”. Paper attracting ink…..

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/02/14/concerns-raised-over-fault-with-new-mayo-bridge/

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120240872#Comment_120240872

I dunno, the footpath looks massive on left hand side, and the roadway looks far too tight.

So unless there's some photo magic going on, it looks like a problem, although reducing footpath width would seem a quick fix.

UsBus

You have got to be kidding regarding that bridge..??? Whatever about the cones misleading the actual width, would you want to be walking through on one side with two trucks passing each other..? How wide is that path on the right of the photo, 2 feet..??

All joking aside, the reason the bridge junction at claremorris is being built now is some clown in the council planning created a very dangerous junction to begin with leading to a number of fatalities.

We are prone to accepting abject failure in this country...

prunudo

It be grand, another layer of tar to go on, cones are in the way, white line isn't in the middle. It will be close but there will be room for them to pass.

Cosmo Kramer

Is that bridge part of the link from the new N5 into Westport? Or the link out to the N59 to Newport? Or some other stretch of road linked to the project - I can't place what part of the project that relates to?

Covieland

It's the lodge road that is going under the bridge in the picture above and the new N59 link/bypass to Newport going over it, there will be a roundabout before it to get into Westport but there will also be a roundabout on the link/bypass behind Allergan that you could also take to go to Westport

Pete_Cavan

Looks like the kerb on the right hand side of the photo could be set back a couple of hundred mm which would solve the problem. How often would two trucks travellingin opposite directions pass under that bridge at exactly the same time, once every few years maybe? The window of opportunity for it happening is literally a couple of seconds. When the new road is complete, would there be many trucks travelling under that bridge?

I don't see the issue with the footpath, it is reasonably wide. It might be a bit unpleasant for a pedestrian if wwo trucks passed under the bridge at the same time but nothing worse than that and again, it would be a once in a blue moon occurrence.

UsBus

Lads cmon, if this was a retrofit I'd say fair enough. This was built from scratch. One footpath is wide enough, the other is an after thought. If you're going to install a two ft wide path, someone will inevitably use it. I wouldn't be so sure leaving to this to chance. There is an NCT centre, tyre centre, other commercial businesses on one side. You have a new housing estate gone in the other side. I don't take a bike out on main roads myself but what about cyclists.?

It's a really poor attempt and shouldn't be accepted but probably will. It could be a pinch point in future for something to occur.

pjordan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120242860#Comment_120242860

The brutal reality (which has been pretty much confirmed in my correspondence with TII) is that this €220m project was developed and designed solely with motorist in mind without any concessions to pedestrians or cyclists (bar the greenway accommodation and some ancillary works on the N60 at Breaffy). Apparently because it was designed a good number of years back prior to the current drive towards sustainable transport there was no need for such considerations and any limited accommodations would be incorporated as poorly designed or considered afterthoughts.

It really does seem a pity and such a lost opportunity that an infrastructural investment so colossal as this should be so anti pedestrian and cyclist in exclusive favour of motor traffic, with a blatant almost pointedly calculated lack of concession to the former.

On a side point, I walked a section of it last week and got into conversation with another walker on the complete lack of a hard shoulder on almost the entire stretch of dual carriageway. We wondered what chaos will ensue when a vehicle breaks down with nowhere to pull over or when an Rtc occurs with no room to move offending vehicles to the side, or in a future likely scenario of electric vehicles running out of power trying to make it to Westport on a single charge?

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243426#Comment_120243426

Agree 100% on the lack of cyclist and pedestrian facilities in the original plan. It's extraordinary that this road was designed only 10-12 years ago but standards were so different. ABP ordered significant changes to the project, mostly around Westport, to improve active travel provision. It's worth reproducing here to show the extent of them:

3. Section A of the proposed roadway, that is from the Newport Road to Knockranny South, shall be modified as follows:

(a) A one metre wide grass verge shall be provided between the vehicular carriageway and proposed footpath/cycleway starting from the junction with the Attireesh Road (opposite plot P0180) to, and along, the south side N5/N59 link road (from chainage 2+000 to 2+764) as far as the junction with the old railway line on the Carrowbeg Road (at plot P0100). 

(b) A one metre wide grass verge shall be provided between the vehicular carriageway and proposed footpath/cycleway starting from the Allergan junction on the Carrowbeg Road to, and along, the south side N5/N59 link road (from chainage 3+000 to 4+305). 

The footpath, cycleway and grass verged area shall also extend south along the Knockranny Link Road to the Knockranny South roundabout and west to plot P0525. 

(c) A grade separated crossing (underpass or over bridge) with appropriate signage and road markings shall be provided across the N5/N59 link road (between chainage 2+000 and 2+300) to facilitate a continuity of movement for pedestrians and cyclists to and from the Great Western Greenway and the Western way. 

(d) The proposed Lodge Road underpass (under the proposed N5/N59 link road) shall include provision for pedestrians and cyclists.

(e) A link for pedestrians and cyclists shall be provided from the Lodge Road to the N5/N59 Link Road.

Reason: In the interest of traffic, cyclist and pedestrian safety and to support the cycling and walking asset that has been successfully promoted in the county.

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120241490#Comment_120241490

The councillor isn't happy that he's wrong haha

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/02/15/councillor-unhappy-with-response-over-mayo-bridge-fault-claim/

pjordan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120244405#Comment_120244405

I suppose it demonstrates the benefits of having a strong active travel movement in Westport that such things were incorporated even if it was as an afterthought .

In Castlebar on the other hand the blatant aversion to any concession is striking, probably mostly so on the N84 Ballinrobe road where the footpath and non segregated cycle lanes come to an abrupt halt at the speed limit zone and the vast land margins on either side of the approach to the N5 over bridge have been grass seeded almost as an obvious deterrent to any pedestrian contemplating venturing forth. Mind you wading along what will fairly quickly become a muddy walkway is probably preferable to the brave (or daredevil) cyclist like myself who are compelled to share the hard shoulder-less road with motor traffic.

A tragic wasted opportunity which may well cost lives on a stretch of road which has already seen too many fatalities!

happyoutscan

The wide path is to accommodate cycling (the Greenway) but it is a massive oversight not leaving enough width for 2 x tricks and footpaths/greenway on one side and a footpath on the other. Just past this bridge on the right hand side you have Mini-Mix (gravel/cement), O'Horas kerbing, Homeland all of which have extremely heavy traffic (trucks/mixers/tractors/trailers). The NCT test centre is just past this as well. You also have a haulage company (I think there are 2) and Bourkes Waste. A huge amount of lorries etc will be using this road.

KrisW1001

The road is 2 lanes of 3.0 metres each. It looks like the councillor jumped into repeating a constituent’s complaint before checking the facts first, and now he’s too proud to admit that he was wrong.

For reference, the maximum permitted width for road vehicles in Ireland is 2.6 metres.

DumbBrunette

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoxSP1kNCh7/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Wearing course being laid on the N5 mainline at the outskirts of Westport.

DumbBrunette

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120252142#Comment_120252142

Even leaving aside the width of the new underpass, the Lodge Road is in desperate need of improved pedestrian facilities from the Castlebar road down to Homeland.

At the moment there is a narrow and discontinuous footpath and you have to walk on the road in some areas.

A proper footpath/cycleway along the western side of the road from the C'bar Road to the new Monamore estate, with a pedestrian crossing across to Homeland, would do the job.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120254527#Comment_120254527

Perhaps that's what the councillor should be shouting about.

Westernview

I presume you mean minimum width. Even if each lane meets the standard, I'd say it's still intimidating to use the footpath in such a confined space close to trucks passing. Ideally they would have put in a wider bridge or better still a separate segregated tunnel a metre or more away from the road for pedestrians and cyclists only.

mayo.mick

Why wasn't all this raised/flagged by the councillors at planning/design stage?

Upset locals in Islandeady. Seems they want an old stone wall rebuilt.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/02/21/new-n5-in-mayo-wont-open-unless-community-concerns-over-wall-are-addressed/

Cosmo Kramer

Are they ever not complaining about something to do with the road in Islandeady?

I seem to remember lying down on the road didn't do much good the last time they built a new road in this part of the world.

Pete_Cavan

Anybody able to provide a Street View link to this wall before construction started?

TnxM17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120271883#Comment_120271883

This is the street view location on Google Maps.

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120272074#Comment_120272074

Thanks. Looks like a small section of a nondescript wall was removed.

DumbBrunette

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/02/22/nightmare-prediction-at-west-mayo-bridge-on-new-road/

The whinging and denial of facts continues.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120271164#Comment_120271164

They seemed disgruntled throughout the project. Thankfully most of the other communities along the route have been a bit more tolerant otherwise it would never get finished.

A short length of curved wall either side should be enough to close it off?