Design funding for R312 Belmullet to Castlebar road welcomed

Design funding for R312 welcomed


Anton McNulty

THE reinstatement of €100,000 for the redesign of the much maligned R312 road connecting Erris to Castlebar was welcomed by councillors at last week’s meeting of the Belmullet Electoral Area.
The funding came as part of the North West Community Forum project which includes a €750,000 investment for improvement works in the Kilcommon parish. Mr Peter Hynes, Director of Services said the funding will be for the planning and design for realignment works of the R312 and the Council hoped to secure further funding for the project in the coming year. He said the project for improvements to the R312 would cost between €13-15 million and could take between five and ten years to complete.
The funding was welcomed by Cllr Gerry Coyle who described the road as a disaster but claimed the public were entitled to a proper road even if there was no gas project in the area.
“The R312 is an absolute disaster and is continuously being flooded. I was coming up that road one day and after turning a corner, I found two cars stuck in the middle of a pool of water, with water overflowing on both sides of the road. I welcome the money but even if there wasn’t a gas project there should be proper roads,” he said.
Cllr Michael Holmes said it was unacceptable that a road serving 15,000 people was in the condition it is and called for further pressure to be put on to get funding to improve the road.
“The Castlebar road is a big issue for the people of Erris and after heavy rain it is flooded all the time. It is getting to a stage that if there is heavy rain, you would be better off contacting someone in Glenisland to see if the road is passable. This is unacceptable. We have got half promises and more pressure needs to be put on.
Mr Hynes added that this funding will allow the project to move along but the start of the construction stage will be dependant on allocation of specific funding in 2010 and beyond.
“If the funding is available we will be capable of doing it,” he said. “At the end of the day where will the funding come from, there is no pot of gold but we will look to spend where we see fit."