N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120718603#Comment_120718603

I complained about this ridiculous decision previously in this thread. They built a Dual Carriageway from Turlough to Westport, and then plonked a roundabout into it.

Either a GSJ (if it was justified) or a bridge should have been built here for the (now) R309. Castlebar does not need four exits onto the road.

Consider the scenario - you're coming from the Turlough direction to Westport and you're flying along on the Castlebar Bypass @ 100km/h and, for no good reason, you either have to massively decelerate, or else come to a complete stop here.

Personally, I think it was interference by politicians, on behalf of some local vested interests, that got this built.

Pete_Cavan

What was said here previously was that it was the expected high volume of traffic using that junction which is why it is a RAB and not a GSJ. I don't see why it would be a particularly high usage junction, only traffic from west of Castlebar looking to access certain parts of Castlebar would use it, for other parts of Castlebar they'd continue to another junction. Anything from east or south of Castlebar would use other junctions too.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120720943#Comment_120720943

You mean they think both roads would be low volume which is why they went with roundabout. Doesn't make sense if it both were high volume roads as a roundabout would just cause traffic jams.

If one or both were going to be high volume then a fly over would have made more sense as the traffic can move freely on both roads then. And just add ramps to access the new road if you were on the old road.

They were cheap skates which is why there is a roundabout. Nothing to do with high volume as I have pointed out earlier in this post.

marno21

There are two options for junctions on a 2+2.

At grade roundabouts

Compact GSJs (ala N5/N60, N5/N84)

Compact GSJs are used when there isn’t much traffic expected to be switching between the mainline and the side road. At grade roundabouts are used for busy junctions.

Given the volumes on 2+2s and the context of junctions such as this there shouldn’t be any issues

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722274#Comment_120722274

At grade roundabouts are used for busy junctions.

What about the junctions on the M50. They are hardly low volume and they do not have a roundabout plonked halfway down the road?

When I was talking about fly overs I meant something like the junctions on the M50. They were cheap skates plain and simple.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722314#Comment_120722314

The M50 is not a 2+2

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722318#Comment_120722318

I know it's not a motorway but still it was a foolish decision to put a roundabout half way down a new road.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722333#Comment_120722333

I don't think the roundabout is such a big deal. I drove the whole road today and it didn't feel like it held me up much once I was bypassing both towns. Also while the new road was busy I noticed a fair bit of traffic still on the old N5, which is to be expected from the western outskirts of Castlebar and also the fact that the population between this roundabout and the first westport roundabout still has to use the old road as there is no access to the new road for these areas in between.

So the roundabout is probably there to give all 4 roads accessing it the opportunity to slow down but not get stuck in backed up traffic which may happen for cars on the old N5 coming off a GSJ. The roundabout on the Turlough road side is probably there for the same reason.

The main reason for the new road is to improve safety and relieve congestion in the 2 towns and I think the designers knew what they were doing.

Also the relatively new N4 section between Castlebaldwin and Coolooney also has roundabouts along it so it seems it's not unusual to have them on a 2+2.

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722757#Comment_120722757

The main reason for the main road is to improve safety and relieve congestion in the 2 towns

Westport will still be backed up as they only went to the north side of the town to relieve congestion they should have also built a ring road to the south side of the town so people travelling the new road wouldn't still have to drive through the town to get to that side of the town.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722787#Comment_120722787

The man who you need to get onto to start pushing that will be delighted to have it called a Ring Road given it would be named after him. :)

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120722787#Comment_120722787

Well it will still reduce congestion to some degree at the westport end in terms of taking Allergan lorries, Kilmeena and Achill bound traffic as well as traffic from the northern side of Westport. Of course it wont be as good as a full ring road to the southern end but I never said it was. But anyway that's all a separate issue to the roundabout we were discussing but by all means move on to complaining about that as well.

My main point is that whether its a roundabout or GSJ at the half way point it has little or no impact on whats happening at either end.

happyoutscan

The old N5 will still have considerable traffic using it, hence the roundabout.

Being able to bypass Castlebar is great.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120718565#Comment_120718565

I saw the Google car around Castlebar last week,maybe they were doing it.

yew_tree

Drove it yesterday evening to Newport. Fantastic piece of infrastructure. One point, Newport should be signposted from Castlebar via the main road. It’s a faster and safer route. You’re literally at the edge of Westport in minutes. You could almost call Castlebar and Westport twin towns now they are that close.

The moaning online is hilarious. People saying the €250 million should have been “given” to the hospital. That’s not how funding works and I wouldn’t trust the management of the hospital with a bucket.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120725846#Comment_120725846

Plenty of people from Westport & surroundings having to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance will be there quicker now and will have better outcomes.

There’ll also be a huge drop in casualties as a result of N5 + N59 accidents

Much better than giving to the HSE to piss up against a wall. €24bn is enough for them

yew_tree

Also I’m a firm believer in building for the future. Build it and they will come. This new road will hopefully entice more investment and jobs in the area. I live in south Mayo and the upgrading of the Castlebar to Ballinrobe road is a must in my opinion along with the road to the motorway to Tuam via Kilmaine.

The moaners today would have been against the building of knock airport in the 80s.

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120725846#Comment_120725846

100%. The money would go elsewhere.

People just love moaning....even the locals

- Dublin gets everything our roads are terrible!

- Ok we will do the biggest infrastructural project ever in Mayo improving safety, connectivity, reducing congestion and pollution in towns and boosting tourism

- We don't want it!!

marno21

The funny thing reading the comments of people complaining that the money is being spent on this route instead of other routes is that this project was kept going during the quiet period post 2011 by Enda, but we are slow at infrastructure delivery that it's only now being opened. 2 Taoiseachs later it took to get it delivered.

Hopefully the other N5 scheme gets built soon so Michael Ring gets use out of it before he retires

(Not for one second arguing against the project btw - having a senior FG deputy in my constituency helped massively with getting my beloved N22 scheme built).

unit 1

But but but shure everone knows enda did nothign for mayo/castlebar. lol

pjordan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120730497#Comment_120730497

Yep, but they're still talking about Pee's (and by extension Bev's) great achievement of getting the previous N5 bypass for Castlebar 30 years ago. "They might have been crooked but sure look what they done for the county!" You should try it sometime!

mayo_lad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120733726#Comment_120733726

Ya sure all Enda did was .

• build a new factory in Castlebar
• keep the road from Westport tipping away and lead to getting it build
• keep the other N5 project moving along

sure he did nothing for the county at all

Westernview

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120733804#Comment_120733804

Also,

• Additional 75 bed ward for Sacred Heart home.
• 12 million euro Lough Lannagh leisure complex - an excellent facility IMO
• Signed off a Strategic Development zone (SDZ) status for Knock Airport, which can potentially generate over 4000 new jobs. (unlikely it would have even been considered if he was not Taoiseach)

So yeah he did nothing. And remember the first half of his term was about getting the country off its knees when funding for capital spending was severely curtailed.

Westernyelp

When did this thread turn in to a party political broadcast?

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120735838#Comment_120735838

Threads here regularly cross over into politics, it seems to be considered entirely acceptable as long as a politician/political party is being criticised.

Westernyelp

I am not pro or anti Enda Kenny. Never voted for him but he always seemed to do well by Mayo. This is straying well in to FG election leaflet territory though

hans aus dtschl

I didn't even want to post because I've basically written the same thing too many times at this stage, but since others brought it up...

I don't enjoy the near-constant party politics in this forum. I don't have any interest in politics. I don't care whether they're green or FF or FG or anyone. If I was interested in politics I'd be on the politics forum.

The idea that Enda Kenny is a great man for "getting de road done" is equally as sickening to me as Eamon Ryan stopping a road from being done for "reasons". I want tax money spent properly and don't enjoy reading about people abusing it. It's pure backwards stuff as far as I'm concerned.

marno21

Sorry lads, that's my fault for starting it.

No more politics unless it has absolute relevance please.

DumbBrunette

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/06/20/claim-of-high-early-traffic-accident-rate-on-new-mayo-dual-carriageway/

Probably not surprising. A few weeks after the Tuam bypass opened I saw a car coming the wrong way down an off ramp at the Kilmaine road junction. Some people are just absolutely clueless.

hans aus dtschl

I still see cars on the wrong side of the N40 from time to time.

Some aged drivers might only be on a DC or Motorway a handfull of times a year and get all flustered. That'll be particularly acute in the North West where there just aren't as many roads like that. It's more a sign that our licensing system is crazy than any kind of issue with the road design IMO.

serfboard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120738972#Comment_120738972

Indeed, and some ancillary work may need to be done to protect people from themselves (and from others).

IIRC, the bollards at this junction of the M18 were installed in response to a motorist ending up on the wrong side of the Motorway. Since they have been installed, the problem has not re-occurred.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120740180#Comment_120740180

I don't understand: what were people doing? Were they crossing the solid white line and going in the right hand lane?

Cookiemunster

What do you not understand? Of course they did. It's generally elderly motorists who become confused with the way a motorway works.

It's been known to happen at full GSJs too. There's a reason that the wrong way, turn back signs exist.

marno21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120742651#Comment_120742651

Please. Eamon Ryan gives us plenty of opportunities to criticise him. This is not one of them.

prunudo

The most worrying thing is, these are the people we share the roads with.

plodder

It's not just elderly motorists. I posted before about meeting a young one coming towards me on the slip road from the M17 to the M6(East) . She had taken the Dublin bound left lane but wanted the Galway one, so did a U turn on the slip road, drove towards me, and right in front of me swung round onto the Galway slip road.

markodaly

Now that this road is open fully, how much time does it actually save, from East to Westprot.

hans aus dtschl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120742019#Comment_120742019

Yes it's just that I don't understand how someone ends up feeling attracted to the RIGHT hand side of a solid white line, if you get me. I fully understand them taking the wrong exit at a roundabout and carrying on down an "off" slip by mistake, but the above described one just seems mad to me!

wotzgoingon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744130#Comment_120744130

Depends on the time of day as at night I'd say you save damn all. But when ever there is traffic jams on the old Castlebar ring road you would save a decent bit. I have at times been stuck on that ring road for ages other times I just drove straight through. So yea how long is a piece of string.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120745941#Comment_120745941

I don't see as many traffic jams on the ring road now. Rarely see traffic backed up to McHale park now.

mayo_lad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120744130#Comment_120744130

HI Mark , I took a look at it in google maps ,

the road isn't calculating correctly for the new road yet ,

the Ring road of Castlebar saves 3 minutes as it is.

I know that from the north of Westport ( Newport road ) to the east of Westport ( N5 road ) could take up to half an hour at certain times of the day .

I drove it from end to end over the weekend and it took 24 min aprox so it would save another 4 min off the journey .

DumbBrunette

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2023/06/25/after-no-shortage-of-controversy-west-mayo-has-a-new-road-around-which-to-build-its-future/

..

crushproof

Oddly enough google maps tells me it's a minute quicker taking the old route from the east of Castlebar the centre of Westport.

Carol25

Am wondering is Google maps not calculating it properly. I drove it this weekend and it kept trying to bring me on the old road off it.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120766053#Comment_120766053

I would say it will take the algorithm a while to calculate it all out.

plodder

I drove it on Sunday and it knows about the part that opened early but is only partially aware of the second section. My guess is that it updates itself automatically based on a certain number of users traversing all the different paths on and off. At some point, the amount of new information will settle down and maybe after a quick review by a human, it can go live.

USed it on the weekend.

Signage very poor. First exit to Castlebar take you down back roads miles from the town. Went back on and next exit to Castlebar much closer to the town and on a good urban road.

plodder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771303#Comment_120771303

Yes, I was expecting to see signs for Leenane and Louisburgh at the first Westport exit, but didn't see any. There was a brown tourist sign for Croagh Patrick though.

mackerski

I'm looking to update the speed limits of both old and new N5 on OpenStreetMap. I've been able to update much of the route based on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGQ7uX027hc

Can somebody who has driven the route please confirm the limits that now apply?:

• On the new road west of the roundabout for the R309
• On the old N5 some or all of which had a 100 limit. Default limit would now be 80, but there is a chance some sections are still 100

Thanks!

DumbBrunette

https://irishcycle.com/2023/06/26/westport-greenway-users-left-to-cross-new-e250m-100km-h-bypass-unaided/

Some fair points raised here by a cycling lobby group. It is a joke that an underpass was put in at Attireesh - directly as a result of a planning condition from An Bord Pleanala - but wasn't connected to anything so is now unused. The underpass would likely have cost a couple of hundred grand.

what_traffic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120775995#Comment_120775995

They can pay here: https://www.roadtax.ie/