New relief road would be a 'gamechanger' for Mayo town

A Westport councillor is calling for funding to be obtained to develop an outer relief road to Louisburgh.

Fianna Fáil Cllr Brendan Mulroy told the December meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District that a knock-on benefit of the new road would be the pedestrianisation of Westport town centre.

“We badly need a southern relief road around Westport," he told Mayo County Council's Head of Roads Conrad Harley, who attended the meeting. "I know in our development plan there is a corridor on the northern side of town left open for roads, but that is still in place since I was elected 26 years ago. We need the funding, so I ask for the bypass to go to Louisburgh on the southern relief road and that then opens the conversation for pedestrianisation in Westport, which can’t be done at the moment with emergency services and ambulances having to go through town."

Independent Ireland Cllr Chris Maxwell supported the call, saying that trucks and vans going from Louisburgh and Leenane to Ballinrobe Mart have to travel via the Ballinrobe Road in Westport where they have difficulty navigating the notorious railway bridge underpass. 

“If that road is progressed, it would be a gamechanger for the whole south Clew Bay area," Cllr Maxwell predicted.

Independent Cllr John O’Malley said the proposed road “would be a great asset to everybody, because even when you come in the N5 on a Friday evening traffic is backed [up]". He added that the new N5 relief road to Newport on the northern side of Westport has been very successful and has taken a lot of traffic out of the town centre.

Mr Harley agreed that a southern relief road to Louisburgh would be "a gamechanger for Westport".

"We can certainly look at it, but it would only be at the very first stage in the process, and at county level, every municipal district is looking for their own project and we have to look at the priority list to see where funding will go.” 

The Westport Local Area Plan 2024-2030 seeks to progress the southern N5/N59 by-pass of the town, noting that it would "greatly reduce traffic congestion in the town centre, [rebalance] the town centre road space and provide for improvements to the public realm and enable greater enhancement of the town centre environment in terms of placemaking and free up road space for more sustainable forms of transport".

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.