N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308368#Comment_120308368

Well he did say that he was "struggling with the maths of this"!

Fair play to the guy from the Roads Design Office who batted him away with the road safety audit. I can't imagine that it's easy for technical people to have to deal with some of our elected representatives. My all-time favourite being the Galway County Councillor who said that Ireland should have a great advantage in Cloud Computing because we have plenty of clouds!

6541

I am after hearing that they have found some sort of archaeological treasure trove on the Westport side. All work has been instructed to stop until it is assessed.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120308368#Comment_120308368

Being wider than centuries old streets and back roads is hardly a ringing endorsement for a new road!

KrisW1001

What it is a ringing endorsement for is living in the world of reality, and not wasting money on imaginary “problems”. There’s no reason for the lanes to be wider than 3.0 metres except as a way of wasting money - this stretch of road operates at 50km/h, not 100. As it is, a 2x3.0 lanes (plus 0.5 m hard strip either side) is used for 100 km/h running on modern builds of National Secondary roads, so it’s plainly safe to operate at half that speed. Look, if 3m road lanes were dangerous for trucks, there would be no trucks left on the road.

If he wants the underpass widened, he can get the council to pay for it out of its own funds. Screw it, go for the whole Type 1: 3.65+3.65 plus 2.5m hard shoulders plus a hard strips, in case anyone accidentally drives through at 100km/h and needs to pull over for a wee. Actually, what if a truck wants to pass out another truck? Best use a full type-1 DC profile under there: twenty metres of lovely new tarmac. Oh. but then I’m sure there’ll be someone else moaning about something...

thomas385

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120309625#Comment_120309625

Any idea where or what? Sounds very interesting!

Pete_Cavan

What is the issue for pedestrians? There must be tens of thousands of km of footpaths beside roads in this country, much of it narrower than that footpath, does all of it need a barrier?

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120310325#Comment_120310325

You're very aggressive, I think you need to go for a walk (avoid any narrow underpasses).

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311097#Comment_120311097

I wasn't entirely serious, and it was not in any way aimed at you - apologies for any offence caused.

DumbBrunette

https://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/65329-as-new-n5-dual-carriageway-is-about-to-open-to-the-public-the-centre-of-all-roundabouts-will-be-grass-rather-than-brick-according-to-local-councillor

This clip from Midwest radio is like a sketch from Father Ted or something. Two and a half minutes talking about how long grass on roundabouts can cause 'fatalic' crashes.

irishgeo

They are all having a go. Donna Sheridan is on about the rugby club road condition as well.

The TII will be running a mile from building another road in mayo with all the harping on.

getoutadodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120314209#Comment_120314209

exactly...what a bunch of whingers

DumbBrunette

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpaTDQWt4bt/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Class set of pics here from Jack Walsh. Nice to see Knock Airport signposted prominently.

Edit: some more pics here from Jack's stories

bucket head

Looks ready to open for bypassing castlebar.

DumbBrunette

https://westernpeople.ie/2023/03/07/council-will-not-replace-entire-wall-in-mayo-village/

Latest on the Great Wall of Islandeady

muddle84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120314209#Comment_120314209

Do you really think this carry on is any different in other parts of the country?

UsBus

So any news on where are we at with regard to the opening date.? Is there truth in the work being stopped for a find of some sort.? Is the wall at islandeady going to put a halt to things? April finishing date looks dodgy at this stage

DumbBrunette

https://www.mayonews.ie/comment-opinion/de-facto/39548-the-not-funny-n5-comedy

Mostly a whinge, but some interesting points about the council accidentally reneging on agreements with residents.

brianc89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120339568#Comment_120339568

Omg what a moan, Jaysus. The winging about potholes just takes away from any other valid concerns.

irishgeo

It seems it's not opening in stages now.

Open for traffic early next month and official opening in early May.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/03/14/taoiseach-to-officially-open-mayos-new-e300m-roadway-in-may/

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120357423#Comment_120357423

Thursday May 4th with Leo coming down to open it. So that probably knocks on the head that the Castlebar section will open earlier, though in all fairness it’s just another 4 weeks or so now at this stage for the whole road to open.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120357423#Comment_120357423

The same publication have claimed it would be open before Christmas, mid January,Feb and now April

I'm not sure when it'll open,my own guess is late April at this stage.What I do know is the Connaught Telegraph will not know before the rest of us.

Covieland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120359097#Comment_120359097

Knowing the connaught telegraph they will have a picture of Alan Dillon on that article 😂

pjordan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358536#Comment_120358536

Jays there's a lot of work to be done by then. Crash barriers and central median still only being erected on Sheeaune stretch and very little in the way of signposting done yet (2 weeks ago). And the section from the Sheeaune roundabout to Newport road roundabout behind Allergan hadn't even started hard surfacing yet. Maybe they intend to open the dual carriageway from Turlough to Sheeaune roundabout end at beginning of May?

DumbBrunette

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/03/15/mayo-green-party-outline-stance-on-new-e300m-roadway-project/

The Green Party repeating that they don't like the new N5, but ironically their roads wish list is lengthy and quite interesting 😁

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120361836#Comment_120361836

A lot of roads alright. I agree with giving priority to reducing bottlenecks but I think it is naive to believe that €300m could be ringfenced longterm for the projects listed. Most of those projects are years, and in some cases decades away. I fear that most of the money would end up being spent elsewhere in the country.

Also if all that money were spread across smaller projects does that mean the existing, hazardous, N5 Westport-Turlough route should remain as is?. Minor upgrades would not solve the safety issues on that road.

Pete_Cavan

That projects list from the Greens makes no sense, like upgrading the N60 while expecting huge volumes of traffic to crawl through Castlebar on the existing N5. And why would they upgrade the N60 when they want to pour a fortune in Capex and Opex into reopening the rail line south of Claremorris?

And are they saying that a Westport relief road south to the N59 Leanaun road is fine from a Green pov but a relief road north to the Achill road isn't? Basically any bypasses which haven't been built yet, such as Balla, are "towns first bypasses" but those bypasses just built, such as the much bigger Castlebar, are a waste of money.

brianc89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120363409#Comment_120363409

A bypass of Castlebar stretching all the way to Westport is not a bypass. Given these towns are already directly linked by train and bus, the Greens feel it was the wrong decision to build such a big road between them.

This doesn't make them hypocrites. If you disagree then thankfully for you the road is built.

prunudo

Its amazing we still need to explain why its a good idea to segregate 100kph traffic from domestic and farm entrances. We tried this idea of mini bypasses in the 80's and it didn't work. They are good for freeing up land for development but inevitably they become congested and need to be bypassed themselves.

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120364735#Comment_120364735

I fully agree with the idea that Single Carriageway would have been sufficient here, particularly west of Castlebar.

Building not such a big road would have reduced the cost and theoretically allowed funding to be spent elsewhere in the county (although, in reality it doesn't work like that) but only a portion of the €300m so not nearly enough to pay for their list of projects.

Not building anything between Westport and Castlebar would have theoretically freed up the full €300m for other projects but why is a southern relief road in Westport a "towns first bypasses" but a northern relief road not (given most industry is on the northern side)? And why upgrade the N60 to feed traffic into the M17 when this would only increase competition for the rail line they want to reopen?

It is entirely reasonable to agree with the Greens that the N5 as build probably isn't the optimal solution and to also think that the statement from the Greens in relation to alternatives is a load of nonsense.

Westernview

What do you mean its not a bypass brianc89? It's a new road that includes a southern bypass of Castlebar and a northern bypass of Westport. Having them linked in between does not change that.

The problem with what the greens are saying is that they haven't said what should be done with the existing N5. Its all very well them saying they don't like it but that's not a solution to safety issues on Mayos busiest road.