Cost of Mayo project soared from €180k to €1.5m

An Active Travel plan for Deerpark East on the N59 Newport Road in Westport includes proposals for raised pedestrian crossings, narrowing of parts of the road to encourage motorists to reduce speed and new bus stops.

A presentation by a deputation of consultants from an Active Travel working group informed members of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District that the proposed works are now at design stage and will ultimately cost almost €1.5 million. The project will include newly planted areas as well as changed access to the Great Western Greenway that will make it convenient and safe for use by pedestrians and cyclists, enhance connectivity and improve safety.

The works, which will include traffic management, are to take place along the stretch of road between Cedar Park and Pinewoods and are funded by the National Transport Authority. Feedback from a public consultation had proved positive and requests had been made to extend the scheme to the Golf Course Road and Horkan’s Hill.

The plans were welcomed by councillors although Cllr Peter Flynn asked why there could not be "joined-up thinking" so that the Active Travel plans for the entire Newport Road section from Holy Trinity and Scoil Phadraig national schools could all be done in one go. He said the process was "undeniably slow", with the campaign for the Deerpark works ongoing on for 15 years.

“While it is fantastic news to have this presented today it is completely illogical it is not being done as an entire section to include the two primary schools and down to the Golf Course Road. You only need to look at this example to see how daft this Active Travel process has become. This project went from an original cost estimate of €180k to €1.5m, which is a huge jump, and I believe it could have been done at a fraction of the cost. Looking to the four members of this deputation to the council, and with no offence to them as consultants, there is no doubt that when you do bring in consultants, costs skyrocket.” 

Cllr Flynn said other Active Travel plans that also had funding announced in previous years, including at Brackloon and Murrisk, still had no work done.

“The whole process needs to be looked at nationally and the speed of implementation ramped up because everything is way behind schedule. As far as this matter goes it is utterly illogical that both schemes including the two schools on the N59 are not being done together. After all, if you were doing a driveway to a house you wouldn’t do one part and then come back a year later to finish it off.”