Ballinrobe bypass ‘firmly back on the agenda’ - Ryan

THE appointment of a staff member to oversee the application for a bypass for Ballinrobe has put the project ‘firmly back on the agenda’, according to a local representative.

From January 2, a member of staff will begin working with Mayo County Council’s National Roads Office to begin preparing a Phase 0 strategic assessment report on the bypass.

Members of Mayo County Council’s Roads SPC recently met with TII representatives in Dublin, where a variety of proposed and ongoing capital projects were discussed.

Speaking at the Roads SPC’s December meeting, Ballinrobe-based councillor said that there was ‘a real acknowledgement’ of a ‘major’ traffic problem in the area from TII.

A bypass for Ballinrobe was first proposed as far back as 2009 when a preferred route along the east of the town was ratified by Mayo County Council and adopted in the Ballinrobe Local Area Plan.

A sum of €600,000 was allocated for traffic alleviation measures in Ballinrobe earlier this year, including a set of traffic lights at Staunton’s corner.

Cllr Ryan said that a second or a third set of traffic lights may be needed to address ongoing traffic congestion in the South Mayo town.

“We’re pushing an open door with them [TII], there’s an acknowledgement that there’s a real problem in Ballinrobe,” Cllr Ryan told the Roads SPC.

“There’s also an acknowledgement with them that the bypass is being firmly put back on the agenda. That has to happen. We have to manage expectation in how long that will take.”

The Fianna Fáil councillor also welcomed the recent commencement of work to upgrade the R332 between Kilmaine and Foxhall.

The three-kilometre road, which straddles the border of Galway and Mayo, will undergo online and offline carriageway construction involving vertical and horizontal realignment, road widening and road pavement overlay.

Over €850,000 has so far been allocated to the project, which will link South Mayo to the road network in Tuam when complete.