Bid to get Mayo road project on track after 20 years

Mayo County Council is to push for funding to complete a road project that has been mooted for over two decades.

A bypass between the N60 and N17 in Claremorris has been talked about for a long time and it was the subject of another debate last week when members of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District held their monthly meeting.

Cllr Richard Finn submitted a notice of motion calling on Mayo County Council to put the bypass back on the agenda of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) as soon as possible.

“A blueprint was there to do this work as part of the Castlebar-Claremorris N60 realignment, which involved major works.

“The section from Claremount to the N17 was part of the route plan and seems to be the most viable, even though there may be a feeling out there for a new route. So we need to go back again for funding because if we don’t keep knocking at the door, we won’t receive any.

“This is a very important future piece of infrastructure to complete traffic management in Claremorris town, to make it easier for people who do not want to come to town and want to bypass and drive straight on to Dublin or wherever.”

Cllr Finn also said that people’s lands had been sterilised along the route for almost 20 years, adding: “It is completely unfair that this is happening on the basis of the project not proceeding or coming to fruition. I cannot understand how they put up with it and on lands so close to town that are valuable.

“The people who have lost out are mostly local farmers. They were delighted something was going to happen but then they were just left there, with their land frozen. They thought they were going to get some compensation. There should be some mechanism to say, if this thing is not going ahead then people’s lands should be de-sterilised.”

Cllr Patsy O’Brien seconded the motion, saying, “People had the pain of the major roadworks and they should have the gain following all the works, so this section should be concluded.”

Cllr Deirdre Lawless said the town needed the bypass as well as commuters and that it would ultimately help business, while Cllr Alma Gallagher said that Claremorris Chamber of Commerce also fully supported the project.

“A Chamber survey found that there are 7,000 cars coming through that route daily [from Castlebar]. The N60 is really the forgotten route and we want to see the whole of it back on TII’s agenda.”

Cllr Michael Burke said the situation seemed bizarre and that a similar scenario applied to the Ballinrobe bypass project, which had also been ongoing for 20 years.

“There are seven sections to it. Nothing has happened in our town in 20 years and we are back to the drawing board. It will probably cost another four or five million just to get the plans drawn up again.”

Cathaoirleach Cllr Damian Ryan said that if a project falls obsolete after ten years, the TII should be mandated to have to either purchase the designated land or dispose of it.

“In Ballinrobe, we are back to phase zero of seven phases. People thought in the early ‘90s when the designations were applied for the bypass that they were getting some compensation, but it was a complete fob-job.”

Cllr Gerry Murray said a similar situation prevailed in Charlestown, which had been ongoing since 2007.

The council’s senior engineer Conrad Harley advised that the most recent funding application for a minor works application for an N60/N17 link was submitted to TII in 2022. To date, no funding allocation has been received and the project would require dedicated funding from TII if it is to be progressed.

“While the allocation of funding is beyond the control of the Municipal District, we will continue to push to have the matter addressed,” he said.

Cllr Finn thanked Mr Harley for his promised intervention.