N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

Took a trip to see the new road today and, as per previous posters, the Castlebar bypass is 99% done. Only some road markings and signage remain to be completed. Here are some pics:

View from the Horsepark Road bridge and view of the bridge with one of the new lay-by signs. I have never seen these signs in Ireland before - I'm not sure if they're a new invention!

The N84 bridge from the east, with junction countdown signs in place.

Belcarra road looking east, with two lay-bys visible in the distance.

View from the N60 junction, with lighting now in place on the mainline and slip roads.

Approaching the existing Turlough road, with warning signs for the new roundabout.

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Took my new camera for a walk yesterday on the Westport to Castlebar section and got some nice pics. Quire a few people out walking the new road.

The Knockranny north roundabout where the dual carriageway starts (or ends!) Left is the link to the existing N5 and straight ahead is the Westport relief road linking to the N59.

The dual carriageway heading east along with the access road and underpass replacing the severed Drumindoo road.

First overbridge on the way out of Westport. This serves a local cul de sac with just one or two houses!

The bridge is the only one on the entire scheme that is not yet open.

View back towards Westport.

View towards Castlebar.

A bit further east, the view west from the Drumneen overbridge.

And east from the Islandeady overbridge.

This is the Lough Lannagh crossing on approach to the Castlebar West roundabout. The median barrier works are complete here and slowly progressing back towards Westport.

New alignment of N59 from Barley Hill to Attireesh roundabout is now open.

Latest from Jack Walsh.

Its a question I have pondered myself - and it looks quite doable.

Doing a very rough calculation, from the new roundabout north of Castlebar to Newport. On current best route according to Google Maps it goes through the old town centre and is 24 minutes at 21.8km. Going through Castlebar via current ring road and the new retail areas is also 24 minutes also but 23.5km.

The new Type II is 20.2km, so if you could maintain 100kmph that's approximately 12 minutes. Its approximately 2 km of road from the new roundabout in Westport to the N59, assuming its 60kph thats 2 minutes and from there to Newport is 9 minutes and 10km.

So, the new road potentially is 23 minutes, but is approximately 32km so 10km more. Even adding in another minute or 2 for slowing for roundabouts etc it's probably worth the extra distance for a more consistent journey.

Another route I was pondering is if it would be beneficial for is for traffic from the south Galway/Ballinrobe etc to go as far as Castlebar and join at the N84 junction to the new road.

Starting at the junction in Partry it takes 22 minutes (22km) to travel to Westport town centre.

To go from same starting point to new junction is 13 minutes (15.8km), its 14.4km from there to roundabout outside Westport so approx 9 minutes. And 4 minutes (1.7km) from there to the same point in town centre.

Its 22 minutes (22k) of a poor rollercoaster type road versus 26 minutes (31.9 km) of pretty good road along the N84.

They should call the old N5 the Padraig Flynn Way, because it is so crooked, allegedly.

Drove over the road last Friday at N84 crossing (Ballinrobe road) and workers could be seen erecting signage on southbound carriageway.

The Westport relief road is the least advanced section of the project. I took some pics a few weeks back, hopefully things have moved on a bit since then.

View from the Knockranny north roundabout, looking west towards the Lodge Road. Note the shared footpath/cycleway along the southern side of the road.

The Lodge Road crossing looking west towards Allergan, this is where the tarmac ends. There is a ramp on the left for pedestrian access to the Lodge Road, this was a specific condition from ABP.

The new Allergan roundabout is still under construction.

Between the Allergan roundabout and the N59 things are still very messy.

The new greenway underpass and the N59 tie-in in the distance.

I passed a few sections today and think its on track for April. The signs are being erected at pace on the north of the scheme from Turlough to current N5 crossing at Westport Road. The street lights at the N84 Ballinrobe junction were on. I stopped at Islandeady today and the median barrier is well passed there towards Westport.

I thought the N59 section and the section around Allergan would be what delays things but passing the N59 today it has progressed considerably since I was that way 2 months ago. Also, from todays Jack Walsh drone shots posted above they have tarred a lot of the section around Allergan. That is about half the distance of what remained when I saw that part at Lodge Road a month ago.

Cycled over and back from Attireesh to Turlough today. Median barrier complete as far as Derrada.

Except for maybe 10/20% of the signage, the entirety of the Derrylea to Turlough section looks like it could open tomorrow.

Old N5 seems to be designated as the R309 according to the signs.

Also spotted a humourous error on the last sign approaching the Turlough roundabout where it srems the very bottom part of the sign is mixed up as it should include "SWINFORD", so as it is at the moment it almost looks like Swinford is a Gaeltacht town with just "B. Átha na Muice" on the sign.

Full length flypast from DroneWest, showing new signage in place on the Castlebar bypass.