Three bridges road in Achill will need realignment claims Mayo Head of Roads

A SENIOR official with Mayo County Council has recommended a realignment of a road in Achill to solve the traffic safety problems at three bridges on the island.

The monthly meeting of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District heard that an application for funding to repair three bridges along the R319 which have been the location of a number of traffic collisions was unsuccessful.

Conrad Harley, Head of Roads with Mayo County Council told local councillors at the monthly meeting that he believes the best course of action to solve the problem was to apply for funding to realign part of the road but warned it will 'not happen over night'.

“The three bridges in Cashel are structurally sound but the problem is they are too narrow. The parapet is right up against the edge of the road. I believe instead of chasing money for the three bridges we need to chase money under the road realignment scheme because that is what needs to happen rather than the three bridges getting funding under the bridge funding.

“We will try to bring it into a road realignment scheme which will allow the bridges to be widened and to take the sharpness off the bends. That will not happen over night and will be a scheme we will have to work through,” he said.

The three bridges are located within a short distance of each other along the R319 at the entrance to the village of Cashel on Achill Island and have been the scene of a number of traffic accidents and collisions.

Local councillor Paul McNamara has been raising the issue for a number of years and expressed frustration at the monthly meeting that nothing has been done to date. Road markings at the approach to each of the bridges were painted earlier in the year and while acknowledging that it has slowed down traffic, Cllr McNamara said it has not stopped collisions at the bridges.

“The amount of accidents that happen every week is unbelievable. Every week we have an accident particularly at the first bridge towards Achill Sound and anyone passing by will see the chunks knocked out of it.

“It beggars belief that I am still here raising it. I can't understand why we are still where we are. They are a health and safety issue and gardaí have been o to me several times looking for an update to the fact I brought down two ministers 18 months ago and met with gardaí and ministers at the bridges. I did think that day that this problem would be resolved because one of the ministers told me that once an application would be put forward to the department the monies would be made available to upgrade the three bridges. That has not happened,” he told the meeting.

Last year, Cllr McNamara was informed that Mayo County Council will be making an application for funding but Mr Harley said it was unsuccessful but no reasons were given as to why.

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Cllr McNamara stressed that he feared that a serious accident will occur at the bridges because vehicles are not giving way.

“My collegeues probably think this man from Achill is ranting on about this full time but I will keep doing it because I see the danger in it.

“The statistics are there and the sad thing about it is if there was a serious accident at it they will be replaced within a couple of months. I have seen it before on a local road where we had flooding. A barrier was erected after a man lost his life and that will happen here if there is a serious accident. I hope it never happens but it will if we are not going to see any action on these bridges,” he said.

Cllr Paul McNamara

His calls for action at the bridges was supported by Westport councillor Brendan Mulroy who said that Mayo County Council 'are paying lip service to the people of Achill'.

Mr Harley added that he will look at putting in additional safety measures next year to keep the road safe 'until we get the bigger money through'.