N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

I wasn't suggesting that that was a realistic alternative, just posing a hypothetical question on the trade off between getting more km of road v lower spec.

Regarding capacity, west of Castlebar has ADT of c.9,000 and 11,600 is design limit for SC. Not all traffic will transfer to the new road, some will be local only and some will have to use the original road heading east to get onto the new road to go further east. FWIW DC is one third wider than Type 1 SC.

13,000 is the design limit for Single Carriageway, but yes, any road with 9000 AADT today would automatically be bumped up to a 2+2 for future-proofing. A 2+2 tops out at around 22,000 AADT, but that can be increased by using motorway-style junctions with long on and off-ramps.

In order of width, here are the likely cross-sections for a national primary road:

12.3 m Type 1 Single Carriageway (2.5 m shoulders + 3.65 m lanes)

15.0 m Pre-2007 “Wide Single Carriageway” (2.5 m shoulders + 5.0 lanes), rising to 16+ m at junctions (e.g. N25 Kilmacthomas). -- this road type is no longer permitted for new builds.

16.5 m Type 2 Dual Carriageway, not including offline cycle/pedestrian way. (e.g., N5 Westport-Turlough)

21.6 m Type 1 Dual Carriageway / Motorway (e.g., all the inter-urbans built since 2000, except M1).

23.0 m Wide Dual Carriageway Motorway, not including 7m unpaved median between carriageways. (e.g., M9 Kilcullen bypass, M7 north of Portlaoise, all of M1). The standard is still current, but realistically, there will be no more of this road-type built.

The US and UK systems are a mess, with duplicate numbers for different routes. Considering both countries are places where route-numbers are displayed prominently on signage, it’s doubly stupid. (Yes, I know the UK motorway network is in its own separate number space, but really it’s not particularly helpful to the average driver, especially when you’ve got the whole A-road-under-motorway-restrictions category to further muddy the water: is it A1(M) or M1? ).

We have a clear and logical route-numbering system in this country, where the lowest-numbered routes are the most nationally significant. Roads 1-50 = roads of primary national importance; 51-99 = roads of secondary national importance; 100+ = roads of regional importance. A road can be busy without being nationally significant - the decision is down to journey distances, not capacity: the section of old N6 you mention is a busy road, but not for national-scale journeys. There are several dual-carriageway regional roads in the country too - that doesn’t mean they should be given a nationally significant number just because they’re big roads; they’re regional because they carry medium-distance traffic. There is also an idea that for a given long-distance journey, there shouldn’t be two parallel national roads: N6 is Galway to Dublin; there is no need for another primary road along that corridor.

(and yes, there are also some very short national roads like N29, but they get to be national primary routes because they connect ports and airports to the rest of the country)

The other reason for making a bypassed road regional is that regional routes are not funded by TII - only the primary roads get direct funding; maintenance of regional roads are funded by county councils. Once a road is downgraded, there are certain things that can be dropped from the maintenance if the traffic is sufficiently low: for instance, any wide single-carriageway route could have its hard shoulders and lane-width reduced to a more appropriate size at a future date in order to save on maintenance costs.

Very badly needed. Strange it hasn't been given more priority on a National primary route between Castlebar and Galway.

who/what is the cause of the delays here? Is it the contractor or TII? do Mayo co co have any role/power in holding anyone to account?

It's ridiculous at this stage.

Connacht Telegraph are reporting the official opening is delayed until June.

Im fairly sure the wages in those local newspapers reflect the quality of writing

Anything plucked fron thin air has come from the transition year students who run the Connaught Telegraph. How many definite grand opening date exclusives have been trumpeted by the Mayo News or the Western?

If anything runs over time and it's the fault of the contractor they will be paying penalties.

Turlough to islaneady will be open before the summer.

It's not a route I travel, but I'd be very surprised if many people make that detour just to use what is a very short section of DC between the N60 and the N5. They'd be on the new N5 for probably a minute at most.

I'd say there will be much greater traffic increases in Ballintubber and Ballyheane as a result the new road (Galway to Westport traffic) than in Breaffy.

I see the N59 section of this is open already. It's funny how a new road immediately feels like it's always been there, and it's hard to even visualise the crappy old road it replaces. I'd wonder though how many people will use this road to get from Castlebar to Newport and beyond. While it's a much better road, the distance is a lot longer.

Will Joe Biden and his motorcade be the first official users of the Castlebar bypass section of the new N5? The location of the security barriers out the Westport Road suggests that he might be.

It would actually be quite a good idea to beat the ObamaPlaza by having Joe open a BidenHighway.

In fairness, if it happens, it would be some coup for Mayo to get a sitting US President to open the road. And I'd guess Biden would get quite a kick out of it too, and it would play well as a PR exercise to Irish America.

Don't know if that's what will happen, but the timing seems to suit.