Mayo’s major road projects in limbo

Mayo’s major road projects in limbo


Anton McNulty

INVESTMENT in Mayo’s road infrastructure looks to have suffered a serious set-back after the National Roads Authority (NRA) revealed that capital projects in the county are unlikely to go ahead until after 2010.
The NRA’s budget for the coming year has been slashed by over €200m and a senior Mayo County Council official has told The Mayo News that ‘all bets are off’ regarding when construction of projects in the county will commence.
It had been predicted that phase two of the N26 from Ballina to Bohola would be the next major project to begin in Mayo, with construction to start in 2010. However, approval for the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the N26, which was expected from An Bord Pleanála last June, has still not happened.
Cllr Michael Holmes, who is also Chairman of the Western Roads Action Committee, met with the NRA recently and was told by them that there would ‘definitely’ be no projects starting in 2009 in Mayo. Speaking to The Mayo News, Cllr Holmes said he was fearful that projects such as the N26 and the N5 would be sidelined for a number of years.
“We met with the NRA who have had €216 million cut in their budget for 2009, and they told us that it would be at least 2010, or possibly beyond that, before anything starts in Mayo. Mayo’s share for 2008 was just short of two per cent of the overall NRA budget, and I would expect us to get the same but from a much smaller budget.
“The NRA told us they will be finishing off the projects they have started but there would definitely be no major project in Mayo or in any other part of Ireland starting in 2009. The N26 will not be going ahead next year or in 2010 and I would feel that it would be three years away at the earliest. The N5 project from Westport to Bohola is even further down the line, and, realistically, it looks like it won’t happen for at least another ten years,” he warned.
Cllr Holmes said it was a disgrace that Mayo did not fare out better in its allocation for roads infrastructure over the past 15 years and put the blame firmly at the feet of Mayo’s Oireachtas members.
Mr Joe Beirne, Senior Engineer with Mayo County Council, explained that the Council would not know what allocation Mayo would receive until the NRA budget was released in January but admitted that since the down turn in the economy ‘all bets are off’ regarding when projects would start in Mayo.
“All I know is that the budget has been cut by €200 million and that means that current contracts are not safe and that includes the N18 from Gort to Oranmore, which has been pulled. With the cut in the budget it will mean that there will be projects put back in the queue but we won’t know in Mayo until the NRA announce their allocations.
“All bets are off since the start of the downturn but we have two projects in Transport 21, which are the N17 Atlantic Corridor and the East to West Route which include the N5 and N26. Those projects are to be completed by 2015 and nobody has said yet that Transport 21 is to be shelved despite obvious concerns for its viability,” he said.