N5 - Westport to Turlough [open to traffic]

Is that the same stretch that as soon as it rains or hailstones a bunch of cars ending up crashing?

Hadn't really looked at plans. Just assumed that bottleneck of town would have been improved. New road will obviously take away a bit of the traffic but an awful lot still going through it to get to Leenane etc...

It's a nice looking town but has horrendous traffic.

The N59 is a secondary road.

Thanks for the evidence filled reply. Kepeing with the theme

I'm sure there was an official reason with data to back it up but I would have thought more traffic heads south through the town to access Croagh Patrick and other tourist attractions. Hopefully it comes in time.

Was something left out or not completed as a result of the redirection of funds? The Turlough end seems well finished but I didn't see original plans.

There's definitely a lot of extra traffic being directed to the Newport side of Westport (although they seem to be changing the signage)

I don't know if that's such a bad thing as the massive daily tailbacks on Sheeaune Hill seem to have reduced.

Also it's hard to tell as the schools are still off but general traffic and especially the ring road is flowing much better through Castlebar

That won’t happen for years and years- still a long long list of towns and badly needed upgrades that have had nothing done on far busier routes way up the list. Westport has done well to get this far

Well the scramogue to Ballagh section is atrocious - its delayed a couple of years at this stage

And having a couple of huge multi nationals complaing about it.

I read somewhere allergan had put extra packing on products because it would be damaged by the time it got to Dublin due to the state of the old N5.

Must be ready to start by now. Drove it twice in the last 2 weeks and it's such a frustrating stretch of road in this day and age. Convoys of cars and tailbacks every time. Will be a refief when the new road gets done.

It frees up a bit outside those times but things are very congested in July and August. Even aside from the difficulty for drivers getting through town it's not very pleasant for tourists or locals on the streets. I was with some friends recently sitting outside a cafe on main street (Bridge st) and we had to contend with the noise and pollution from trucks and buses amongst all the cars. not very pleasant. A bypass would probably allow a reduction from 2 lane to single lane on Bridge Street and Jame's Street with segregated cycle tracks either side. It would completely change the local environment for the better.

Can't see it happening for long time unfortunately.

Probably just testing it out...

In terms of congestion in Westport, given that a southern bypass won't happen for years if ever, would it make sense to direct all the westbound and southbound traffic coming from Castlebar towards the new junction on the Newport Road, put James Street back to being two way and send all the Louisburgh and Leenane traffic up and down James Street both directions to keep it out of the very centre of the town?

It's not a perfect solution but that way you could take a lot of the traffic out of Shop Street at one end of the town and Castlebar Street and the Mall areas at the other end, and possibly pedestrianise Bridge Street entirely? Seems like it would be better than having all that traffic being pushed straight up Bridge Street and Shop Street as happens now.

Some interesting traffic counts comparisons from the N5 from August 2022 and August 2023 with the new road opened. The counter is located just outside the castlebar on the eastern side on the R309 now. I have noticed a huge reduction in the amount HGV vehicles on the old R309 and you can see the HGV traffic has almost halved.

All Traffic

Aug 2022 424037

Aug 2023 319074

Just for comparison the westbound traffic.

Aug 2022 210940

Aug 2023 157214

HGV_RIGS Westbound

Aug 2022 5469

Aug 2023 2333

HGV_ART Westbound

Aug 2022 3719

Aug 2023 1850

Data from Traffic Counts for Transport Infrastructure Ireland (tii.ie)

Thanks for that. Would be interesting if air quality comparisons could be made also like what was done for the Macroom bypass where, IIRC, the NOx value was reduced by more than half.

While total traffic has reduced by a quarter, it's interesting to note about the HGV traffic dropping by more than a half. I'd speculate that a lot of these are heading to/from Allergan/Abbvie in Westport, which makes the creation of the Westport Northern Bypass with a direct connection to the industrial estate there look even more justified both from a traffic and air quality point of view.