Minor schemes & realignments

Any word on the n73 schemes , travelled the road today for the first time in a while and forgot how bad it is . Still don't know how my mirrors weren't hit

That's the latest, it's crawling along at a snail's pace.

That's the first time I've ever seen this scheme mentioned, including in internal TII docs I got under FOI. Gortnacrannagh is where the new N5 will cross the N61, so it's possible traffic on this stretch of the N61 is expected to increase as a result.

In July letters sent to all affected parties indicating that they intended to apply to An Boar Pleanala for CPO as well as the submission of the NIS in Sept 2021. They asked for comments before Aug 12th. Here we are in November and no plans lodged yet!

I was at the public consultation today for the N60 Manulla bypass route options and found out some interesting tidbits.

• The project has been descoped from 4km to 2.3km to stay within the 20m euro threshold for minor improvement schemes. This means the project has had to go back to the route selection stage.
• The two route options both include a bridge to replace the level crossing and a bypass of the village crossroads and school. The eastern part of the original 4km project, which was planned to tie in with the recently completed Lagnamuck project, won't go ahead, apart from improvements to two junctions.
• Due to the delays caused by the descoping, the earliest this project can now go to ABP is 2023, with construction possible in 2024.
• I also asked about the nearby Heathlawn scheme (4km online type 2 SC). They were a lot more optimistic about this going ahead soon - the contracts are currently undergoing a final review and all that's needed after that is for TII to give approval to go to tender. The project also has to be recosted to reflect recent construction inflation, but there appears to be no risk it will go above 20m euro as there are no significant structures on the route, and the project is fully online. They hope to go to tender next year.
• There is some talk in TII that the 20m euro limit for minor works schemes will be increased to reflect higher construction costs, but nothing firm has been decided yet.
• The N5 Westport to Turlough scheme is still on schedule to finish by next October.

I'd assume the N11/N25 Oilgate-Rosslare road will end on a roundabout on the curve of the blue line Port Access Road.

You can see in Google Maps there is a wide strip of undeveloped land about 200m west of the existing N25, I wonder was that originally reserved for a new port access road? Could make a nice linear park for the town if no longer needed.

OPW recently built a new Border Control Post beside the existing N25, presumably a new one will have to be built further east with the new N11/N25 scheme as traffic would no longer past the existing one.

Some tidbits from Mayo County Council’s 2022 budget:

N59 Projects

Work on the N59 Projects between Westport and Mulranny will continue. Negotiations with landowners on outstanding cases will continue throughout 2022. The N59 Newport to Derradda Scheme will be ready to commence procurement of a construction contract in Q4 2021 subject to TII approval and it is hoped that a contractor will be on site in Q2 2022. The detailed design of the N59 Roskeen to Derradda will commence during 2022.

N60 Projects

Work on the N60 Projects including Heathlawn and Manulla Cross will continue throughout 2022. Negotiations with landowners on outstanding cases will continue throughout 2022. It is anticipated that the N60 Heathlawn Scheme will be ready to commence procurement of a construction contract in Q4 2021, subject to TII approval and it is anticipated that a contractor will be on site in mid-2022. The N60 Manulla Cross Scheme will continue with the route option selection and statutory processes during 2022.

N26 Ballina Bypass Phase 1 

The Strategic Assessment Report for the N26 Ballina Bypass Phase 1 has been approved by the Department of Transport and the scheme will proceed through the route selection, preliminary design and environmental assessment during 2022.

N17 Knock to Collooney Road Project

Sligo County Council, through a Section 85 Agreement with Mayo County Council, are progressing the N17 Knock to Collooney Road Project through the route selection process throughout 2022, with follow on preliminary design and environmental assessment.

Safety Schemes

The following schemes will be progressed under the TII safety programme:

• N84 North of Shrule at Gorteens - Road widening.

• N84/L1611 New Street / Convent Road Junction – Application for traffic lights.

• N59 Carrowbaun Westport – Junction improvements.

• N5/R320 Swinford – Junction improvements.

• N60 Claremorris – Ballyhaunis at Bekan – Realignment scheme and overbridge.

Regional Road Projects

The R312 Regional Road Re-alignment at Glenisland was completed in 2021. Preliminary Appraisal Reports had been submitted to the DOT seeking funding for the design of the R332 Kilmaine – Foxhall (Galway County Boundary) and for the R345 Cong by-pass. A strategic assessment report has been approved by the Department of Transport for the R345 Cong by-pass.

Preliminary Appraisal Reports have been submitted to the Department of Transport for R312 Glenisland Phase 2, R315 Crossmolina to Lahardane at Castlehill, R313 Bangor to Belmullet at Glencastle and R314 Killala Inner Relief Road Phase 2.

The taoiseach allegedly getting involved in the N26 campaign. The much needed upgrade of the Ballina to Foxford road is likely to be announced as a series of minor works schemes as it's not in the NDP.

Some good news for users of the busy N60 between Castlebar and Claremorris in today's TII allocations for 2022.

€4m for the 4km Heathlawn realignment - this amount would mean TII intends for construction to start in 2022, so a tender must be imminent.

€2m for pavement upgrades between Brize and Claremorris, which are badly needed.

€200k for the Manulla bypass, to allow design work to continue to crawl along!

N17 Milltown to Gortnagunnad proposed upgrade planning permission and CPO application were sent to An Board Pleanala Christmas week. Lots of information about the scheme with plans, design reports etc all here: https://www.galway.ie/en/services/roads/roadsprojects/milltown/

I'd suggest moving the above two posts, plus 515 and 516, regarding N17 to (but remove 2017 scheme from the title)

Agreed. The Tuam-Claremorris scheme is a completely different scheme, and will bypass this particular scheme when it is built. At 3km in length, this scheme here definitely fits into the "Minor Schemes and Realignments" topic of this thread.

Furthermore, I think that it's unlikely that the Tuam-Claremorris scheme will ever be built.