Now the council has said that it is looking to get more staff on the site to speed up the work. Last year, the Council began work on a stretch of road between The Neale and Cross, in an effort to realign and redevelop the R334. Initially, motorists had welcomed the work on the R334, as there was a clear need to reduce the incline on the road and fill in the valley that existed. However, in late October, when workers on this stretch of road uncovered an area of archaeological importance and were forced to call off all works until the site had been fully excavated, the road was immediately reduced to one line of traffic.

The traffic lights at The Neale were put in place on October 21 2005 and now, five months down the line, this work is still ongoing and locals are reaching the end of their tether. The temporary traffic lights at The Neale are causing major traffic disruptions and leaving motorists and Council-lors wholly dissatisfied.

Some weeks ago, Fianna Fáil Councillor for the area, Mr Damien Ryan, had questioned the Council on the matter, pointing out that the people of the area deserved a better service and that the 25-metre stretch of single-lane traffic was causing huge traffic hold-ups.

“Between 7.15am and 9.30am and again between 4pm and 7.30pm, the congestion is particularly bad, with long tailbacks causing huge problems for drivers trying to get to and from their place of work,” he noted. Continuing, Cllr Ryan had queried exactly how many hours the archae-ologists were spending on site.

At this month’s Area Committee Meeting in Ballinrobe, Cllr Ryan once again raised the issue with Council officials, asking for an indication as to when the road might be reopened.

“We badly need to get this stretch of road re-opened to two-way traffic because it’s causing major problems in the area. Surely we could get more archaeologists in place to get it finished,” reasoned Cllr Ryan.

In response to the Councillor’s query, Mayo County Council’s Senior Engineer, Mr Patsy Burke explained that the Council are in the process of attempting to recruit more archaeologists, as they too are concerned about the situation from a safety point of view.

“We want to get the road reopened as well but we can’t make a move on this until all the archaeological work is complete. As a result, we’re trying to hire more archaeologists to come on site. Realistically, with a full team in place, you’re looking at about eight more weeks of work before the road can be reopened,” he said.

Supporting Cllr Ryan’s call for more staff, Fine Gael Councillor for the area, Mr Patsy O’Brien, commented that the Council need to do all they can to get the full roadway open as soon as possible. Additionally, he asked the Council officials if they might furnish the Councillors with an Archaeological Report of work carried out to date, as a lot of people in the area had been asking about the progress.

“So many people have been asking about what’s going on and it’s terrible that we can’t answer their questions. I think we should each be given a detailed report, outlining the work that has been done and the work remaining,” opined Cllr O’Brien.

The Director of Services with Mayo County Council, Mr Ray Nortan, told Cllr O’Brien that once the job is complete, a full report would be circulated. When Cllr O’Brien persisted on the matter, Mr Nortan agreed to get an up-to-date report to the Councillors as soon as possible.

On a lighter note, Independent Councillor Mr Harry Walsh commented that he was ‘aghast’ to hear that the Council were looking for more archaeologists to come on site. “Shouldn’t we be trying to get rid of the ones we have instead of trying to employ more?” he remarked.

Main News Page | Previous Page