N5 - Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge [underway]

marno21

Reaffirmed Q2 start

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/02/12/construction-of-n5-section-crucial-for-mayo-to-start-soon/

spakman

marno21 wrote: »

Reaffirmed Q2 start

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/02/12/construction-of-n5-section-crucial-for-mayo-to-start-soon/

How likely is that given tender hasnt been awarded, project hasnt been approved, and it seems lands still to be purchased and archaeological digs conpleted?

Cosmo Kramer

There does seem to be quite a few caveats to that proposed Q2 start. Hopefully it does get going this year though.

Pete_Cavan

I'd say Naughton will be pushing to get the contract signed and she is the relevant minister. It's not in her constituency but can be spun as investment in the west which would play well for her.

spakman

I hope so, it's badly needed.

plodder

spakman wrote: »

How likely is that given tender hasnt been awarded, project hasnt been approved, and it seems lands still to be purchased and archaeological digs conpleted?

I presume the land acquisition, archeology etc is happening independent of the tender process. Covid notwithstanding, road building is the one thing the state has gotten down to a fine art. So, maybe not that unrealistic.

paulbok

plodder wrote: »

I presume the land acquisition, archeology etc is happening independent of the tender process. Covid notwithstanding, road building is the one thing the state has gotten down to a fine art. So, maybe not that unrealistic.

I know a lot of landowners have been paid by now and the archeology around Strokestown seems to be winding down.
I'd say at this stage it's all down to awarding the contract & signing off on releasing the funds. Maybe with Covid and the hole that's put in the finances, they are holding back on it until the economy reopens.

The archaeological works are nearly finished. The whole route has been cleared of trees, hedges etc. The fencing is erected along the entire route. Not all electricity/telephone wires have been diverted yet but it's de facto shovel ready to start once the administrative aspects are completed.

DumbBrunette

More evidence, in case it was needed, that the existing road is disgracefully unsafe. RIP.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/03/08/man-in-his-30s-fatally-injured-in-n5-collision-near-strokestown/

paulbok

DumbBrunette wrote: »

More evidence, in case it was needed, that the existing road is disgracefully unsafe. RIP.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2021/03/08/man-in-his-30s-fatally-injured-in-n5-collision-near-strokestown/

Think it's now 6 fatalities within a couple of km either side of the town in the last 4/5 years. All on the N5.

theoneeyedman

paulbok wrote: »

Think it's now 6 fatalities within a couple of km either side of the town in the last 4/5 years. All on the N5.

Off the top of my head, it's at least 4 fatal9ovwr the last year or so.

RIP to them all, clear illustration of the neglected Western infrastructure.

DumbBrunette

Construction due to start in Q2 according to March update from TII:

https://www.tii.ie/roads-tolling/projects-and-improvements/Major-Active-Projects-March_FinalC.pdf

spacetweek

DumbBrunette wrote: »

Construction due to start in Q2 according to March update from TII:

https://www.tii.ie/roads-tolling/projects-and-improvements/Major-Active-Projects-March_FinalC.pdf

That's what they said in Dec 2020 so no change then thankfully.

paulbok

spacetweek wrote: »

That's what they said in Dec 2020 so no change then thankfully.

Have heard it's Roadbridge that has it, and as they start winding up on the Sligo Road , they'll be moving resources to the N5 during Q2. May not be the mainline they start on but will be on it before long.

DumbBrunette

Roadbridge appear to have done a good job on the N4 so that's great news, thanks.

paulbok wrote: »

Have heard it's Roadbridge that has it, and as they start winding up on the Sligo Road , they'll be moving resources to the N5 during Q2. May not be the mainline they start on but will be on it before long.

Kevtherev1

paulbok wrote: »

Have heard it's Roadbridge that has it, and as they start winding up on the Sligo Road , they'll be moving resources to the N5 during Q2. May not be the mainline they start on but will be on it before long.

I would agree with that excellent if Roadbridge awarded Ballaghahadarreen to Scramoge. Good job on previous roads, current sligo road fast build, no drama or delays to projects.

roadmaster

Has anyone heard that there is an issue with the preferred bidder and that TII are now going to award the project to the second place company on the tender list

Reuben1210

roadmaster wrote: »

Has anyone heard that there is an issue with the preferred bidder and that TII are now going to award the project to the second place company on the tender list

I have now...

roadmaster

Reuben1210 wrote: »

I have now...

Now I don't know if its true but I have heard it from a few people but then again the amount of BS is construction it could be just lies

hondar

roadmaster wrote: »

Has anyone heard that there is an issue with the preferred bidder and that TII are now going to award the project to the second place company on the tender list

I think it has to be retendered if that happens.

Pete_Cavan

hondar wrote: »

I think it has to be retendered if that happens.

No if the issue is with a tenderer rather than the competition, they just move on to the next tenderer.

marno21

Signed off by DPER.

https://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/48152-n5-project-in-roscommon-signed-off-on-by-minister

Off to Eamon Ryan to bring it to Cabinet.

veryangryman

Good news that, thanks for sharing.

In a side note, why are the maps they show on these projects so unreadable. Like 1980's Georgraphy Ordance Survey stuff. Why is the quality and readability so poor. Can't even zoom in

Pete_Cavan

Has there been any more word on the preferred contractor? Roadbridge were suggested above but then it was said there was an issue with the first placed tenderer.

KrisW1001

veryangryman wrote: »

In a side note, why are the maps they show on these projects so unreadable. Like 1980's Georgraphy Ordance Survey stuff. Why is the quality and readability so poor. Can't even zoom in

The original maps are very good. But media outlets rarely reproduce them well.

The official maps for the scheme are here:

http://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/Services/Roads/Publications-and-Information/N5-Ballaghaderreen-to-Scramoge-Road-Project/Public-Information-Day/

hondar

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Has there been any more word on the preferred contractor? Roadbridge were suggested above but then it was said there was an issue with the first placed tenderer.

roadbridge got it.

Is there a risk Éamon Ryan will delay signing off on this?

Mullinabreena

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.

hondar

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

Is there a risk Éamon Ryan will delay signing off on this?

The Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath signed off on the plans on Friday and it will now go immediately to Transport Minister Eamon Ryan, before going before Cabinet. Hopefully he will not stop it.with a bit of luck he will be asleep

marno21

HabibiLibneni wrote: »

Is there a risk Éamon Ryan will delay signing off on this?

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

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?