N5 - Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge [underway]

Mullinabreena

Mullinabreena wrote: »

It's an awful stretch of road, even if the new road started tomorrow parts of the old road badly need resurfacing. I don't think there is a national road going to Dublin in any worse condition in the entire country.

I travel a section of the route daily. The only section that has a poor road surface is from Rathcroghan school to shortly west of Tulsk. That section is really poor. There's a rough section on the Roscommon side of the bridge at Tarmonbarry too. I don't know why these very minor and easily rectifiable stretches haven't been resurfaced. Obviously the road as a whole is totally inadequate, but I think it's generally well maintained apart from the above mentioned.

Leonard Hofstadter

marno21 wrote: »

Michael Ring will give him a clip around the ear if he tries.

Exactly, not a hope Deputy Ring will let it go until it's signed off.

mayo.mick

Minister Ryan announces N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project

Source : https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/9e42d-minister-ryan-announces-n5-ballaghaderreen-to-scramoge-road-project/

The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, T.D. has announced that the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project has been approved by Cabinet today and will now progress to the construction phase.

The project involves the construction of circa 34km of new single carriageway road that will extend from the western end of the existing N5 Ballaghaderreen Bypass to the townland of Scramoge in County Roscommon, bypassing the towns and villages of Frenchpark, Bellanagare, Tulsk and Strokestown (see map attached). Provision will also be made for pedestrian and cyclist facilities where the route meets access points to some of the towns along the route.

The total estimated investment value of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project is more than €200million and it will take three years to complete.

Following today’s cabinet approval Minister Eamon Ryan said: “The Ballaghadereen to Scramoge project will replace one of the worst sections of primary road in the country. By completing the missings link in the N5 corridor it will improve access to the north west The new route will also make the towns and villages it serves more attractive places to live, work and shop by diverting heavy traffic, trucks and other heavy goods vehicles out of their centres".

Minister of State for Transport, Hildegarde Naughton T.D. said: “The N5 road scheme will improve safety for all our road users including pedestrians and cyclists. The scheme approved by Government today will eliminate sections of the N5 that have had collision rates nearly twice above the national road average. As well as dramatically improving the safety of the N5 corridor, the new route will improve overall journey times and reduce travel costs".

Peter Walsh, CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland said: “We very much welcome Government approval for the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge project today. Upon completion this project will improve road user safety as well as enhance regional accessibility for both the northern and western regions of the country”.

marno21

Super stuff.

Remarkable how quick this scheme has gone through the motions. Will be most welcome to see it completed.

No massive structures involved either so they should really be able to push on.

Typo in the statement where it says the new road will extend from the ‘western end’ of the N5 Ballagh bypass? ‘Eastern end’ it should read i’m guessing.

Reuben1210

marno21 wrote: »

Super stuff.

Remarkable how quick this scheme has gone through the motions. Will be most welcome to see it completed.

No massive structures involved either so they should really be able to push on.

Do you have any idea why it had such quick and smooth sailing through the various hoops?

Could be a precedent for future projects with similar circumstances or a once off..

veryangryman

Great to hear. Is there plan to get the last bit from longford to this scheme

BelfastVanMan

veryangryman wrote: »

Great to hear. Is there plan to get the last bit from longford to this scheme

It's already done.

user1842

marno21 wrote: »

Super stuff.

Remarkable how quick this scheme has gone through the motions. Will be most welcome to see it completed.

No massive structures involved either so they should really be able to push on.

Indeed, it would have been nice to see some offline over passes instead of roundabouts though.

Probably the traffic levels would not justify them.

spacetweek

BelfastVanMan wrote: »

It's already done.

Tarmonbarry isn't bypassed.

Chris_5339762

Yeah, Tarmonbarry is left behind. Unfortuately a small bypass would be very expensive cos you'd need a very big Shannon crossing to sort it out. I doubt it'll happen anytime soon, I can't see Tarmonbarry being a bottleneck or that scheme being justifiable.

DumbBrunette

The same error appeared in a Shane Ross press release about the project in May 2019. Cringy stuff.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Typo in the statement where it says the new road will extend from the ‘western end’ of the N5 Ballagh bypass? ‘Eastern end’ it should read i’m guessing.

KevRossi

marno21 wrote: »

Super stuff.

Remarkable how quick this scheme has gone through the motions. Will be most welcome to see it completed.

No massive structures involved either so they should really be able to push on.

It's been planned with exemption zones since 2005.

DumbBrunette

IMO even more beneficial than bypassing Tarmonbarry would be a good tie-in to the N4 Mullingar to Roosky project somewhere northwest of Longford. Negotiating the Longford bypass(es) with its 5 roundabouts eats up a lot of time.

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Yeah, Tarmonbarry is left behind. Unfortuately a small bypass would be very expensive cos you'd need a very big Shannon crossing to sort it out. I doubt it'll happen anytime soon, I can't see Tarmonbarry being a bottleneck or that scheme being justifiable.

spacetweek

The archaeology for the scheme was so thorough that the route of the future road is already clearly visible on Google Maps.
You can easily see it in the aerial photography starting on the N5 to the east of Strokestown and heading northwest.

marno21

KevRossi wrote: »

It's been planned with exemption zones since 2005.

The current iteration of it has only been ongoing since the mid 2010s

But I was only referring to it being submitted for planning in late 2017 and being under construction in mid 2021 despite the pandemic. This period for other schemes has dragged on for upto 10 years for other schemes recently.

Pete_Cavan

Reuben1210 wrote: »

Do you have any idea why it had such quick and smooth sailing through the various hoops?

Probably a combinations of reasons. The N5 corridor has been high on government agenda for a decade, since Kenny became Taoiseach. As it's only one lane in each direction, there hasn't been the opportunity for misinformation regarding a motorway. There are generally less people in the area to object and that region has been starved of infrastructure for a long time so the people are likely grateful to be getting a decent road. The road fits in with multiple government policies on regional growth and is relatively cheap (SC, no major structures). I presume words were had with Ryan since the Limerick incident as well.

CatInABox

I believe that Michael Ring has been pushing it the last few years as well, probably giving it enough momentum to get it over the line even though he's not a minister anymore.

user1842

spacetweek wrote: »

The archaeology for the scheme was so thorough that the route of the future road is already clearly visible on Google Maps.
You can easily see it in the aerial photography starting on the N5 to the east of Strokestown and heading northwest.

Well noticed, that is actually amazing.

Reuben1210

spacetweek wrote: »

The archaeology for the scheme was so thorough that the route of the future road is already clearly visible on Google Maps.
You can easily see it in the aerial photography starting on the N5 to the east of Strokestown and heading northwest.

Does it tie-in East or West of Frenchpark?

Reuben1210

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Yeah, Tarmonbarry is left behind. Unfortuately a small bypass would be very expensive cos you'd need a very big Shannon crossing to sort it out. I doubt it'll happen anytime soon, I can't see Tarmonbarry being a bottleneck or that scheme being justifiable.

Maybe it could be built as part of the proposed M4 Mullingar - Roosky Scheme...

CatInABox

Reuben1210 wrote: »

Does it tie-in East or West of Frenchpark?

West. It travels south of Frenchpark, and ties in about 5 km west of the town, near the airfield.

delldelivery

Could be a boost for Elphin.

And a negative for Tulsk.

Always interesting to see how bypasses affect the towns.

Noone wants a bottlekneck, yet all that passing traffic brings a lot of trade.

On the N4 I'd say a bypass would actually enhance the villages of Ballinalack and Rathowen, well except for the owners of the Texaco. Who seem to be extending again so presumably no fear of them being bypassed in the short term.

joujoujou

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

[...] the people are likely grateful to be getting a decent road. [...]

We are, indeed.

delldelivery wrote: »

[...]
Always interesting to see how bypasses affect the towns.
[...] all that passing traffic brings a lot of trade
[...]

Ballaghaderreen is still alive and getting on pretty well. :cool:

Ms jou worked in there for years, and believe it or not, passing traffic was just it - passing. Most of money they make on locals.

Cosmo Kramer

Have to say I've never felt the need to stop in any of those villages or towns on the way down the N5. Unless it's petrol or a quick stop at a shop they don't offer too much in the way or facilities - restaurants, toilets and so on, so you tend to just keep going until you get to Castlebar. I'd say the positives will outweigh the negatives for those places.

L1011

The Westport works are also visible under construction, yet the imagery near me still shows green fields for housing estates that have people living in them, let alone broken ground.


I used to stop in Strokestown for dinner in the Percy French a fair bit, but that was mostly before the Longford Bypass opened and made it that much quicker to home at peak times. Bypasses have killed a lot of roadhouse restaurant/pubs and town petrol stations but not much else. Place I used to stop between Ballinasloe and Athlone had stopped doing food within a year of the M6, place I used to stop on the N7 closed down and so on.

Mullinabreena

joujoujou wrote: »

Ballaghaderreen is still alive and getting on pretty well. :cool:

I think the town is dying a death. There has been some positives out comes like Flannery's corner having less traffic but I think the N5 bypass didn't help the town over all. Although I don't think a bypass was the biggest factor for the town's downfall. Maybe a few trees getting planted around the square will bring some life to the town...

It won't benefit DG restaurant in Tulsk tbh, but as mentioned above, it'll survive based on the local community sustaining local businesses, as should be the norm. It's currently thriving, having recently extended its carpark. Tulsk will still act as a major stop on the N61, Sligo to Athlone. The N5/N61 junction will be rendered obsolete, massively aiding road safety at this dangerous crossroads. Access to the primary school and church will be much safer.

Strokestown also won't lose out too much. The main commercial area is Elphin Street, which was off the N5 anyway. The broad expanse of Main Street (the widest street in Ireland) is largely residential. Traffic issues at the secondary should become more manageable and the old route can be repurposed for sustainable transport and whatever remnants of local traffic that will remain. The filling station at Scania will lose out but again, local people will still need petrol and diesel. I've never had issues with traffic in Strokestown until today ironically, where there was an accident involving a lorry near the GAA club. Such incidents won't happen after this is built.

Ballinagare is dying a death the last 15 years. This bypass won't make any difference to it. It might actually entice people to live in the village as this section of the N5 will become extremely quiet once bypassed.

Frenchpark will become a much safer, liveable and attractive place to live. Again, the filling station will lose out but it will adapt and survive as most do. The shockingly dangerous junction with the R361 will finally become a more manageable junction to manoeuvre.

Elphin will likely benefit the most from this new alignment. It'll be located right off the new road and become a viable location to live close to the Dublin - Westport Road, as well as Carrick and the N61. I'd expect an Applegreen type services area coming down the line here. Either way, it makes Elphin much more accessible.

Tarmonbarry's minor traffic issues could be easily solved if Roscommon Co Co removed the flower beds located between Centra/the filling station and St. Barry's GAA, allowing a semblance of a filter lane for Centra.

In sum, this will be a major boost to accessing the West. There's a case to be made for repurposing the old road with proper cycle lanes. This road moved quickly through the planning process because:

1. There was little to no local or commercial opposition to it. I believe only one home will be demolished near Mantua. If anything, this project was and is enthusiastically supported by locals and politicians alike.

2. There was political capital to make this a high priority under Kenny, but really Michael Ring ensured this sailed through during his tenure as minister. There were few projects of this scale competing at the same pace through the statutory process.

3. Enormous credit is due to Roscommon Co Co. It worked doggedly to progress this through the planning stages as quickly as possible. The N5 has been a major source of concern in local politics for years, even though strategically & economically, this route isn't all that important for Roscommon. Mayo Co Co would have lobbied as heavily if not more so to resolve this last section of the N5.

Mullinabreena

Mullinabreena wrote: »

I think the town is dying a death. There has been some positives out comes like Flannery's corner having less traffic but I think the N5 bypass didn't help the town over all. Although I don't think a bypass was the biggest factor for the town's downfall. Maybe a few trees getting planted around the square will bring some life to the town...

The county council is planning a public realm enhancement scheme right now. The usual nonsense has started among local politicians and business owners about loss of parking. It's the 1 town in the county that has absolutely no quality public spaces, seating or parks, similar to Ballyhaunis and other towns in mid Connacht.

KevRossi

If anyone has a few million under the mattress, then a major service station/food court could be built at the roundabout on the new N5/N61 junction. There's be a lot of traffic, it's a decent distance from Dublin/Castlebar/Sligo/Athlone to warrant a stop. No proper sit down fast food in the area, so it could do plenty of local business too.