Council engineer says Ballinrobe bypass may not open until 2033

A senior county council engineer has said a long sought-after bypass for Ballinrobe may not be opened until 2033.

The slow progress on the bypass was greeted with dismay by local representatives at the monthly meeting of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District, which heard that the town is in ‘gridlock’.

A bypass for the town was first formally proposed in 2008 but was later scrapped due to lack of funding. At the start of this year, an employee was appointed to Mayo County Council to work on the proposed bypass, which remains at the ‘Phase 0 Scope & Pre-Appraisal’ stage.

A project/programme outline document has been submitted to TII for approval. Any progress on the project in 2025 would depend on the funding available to TII and the resources made available to Mayo County Council’s National Roads Design Office.

Paul Hyland, Senior Engineer with the National Roads Design Office, said that, if approved, the Ballinrobe bypass could open between 2025 and 2033.

Local representatives have already approved a traffic management plan for Ballinrobe which saw traffic lights installed at the end of Glebe Street.

Cllr Damien Ryan, Cathaoirleach of Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District, described the traffic issue in the town as ‘chronic’ and called on [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] TII to ‘step up to the mark’ and approve the project.

The Fianna Fáil councillor described recently installed traffic lights as ‘a success’ but said their benefit ‘would be outlived by 2025 or 2026 at the latest’.

“We’ve gone as far as we can with traffic adjustments in the town. There is no town in Ireland that’s as chronic with traffic as Ballinrobe,” said Cllr Ryan.

Cllr Michael Burke echoed Cllr Ryan’s sentiments, warning that lives may be lost if emergency vehicles were stalled in traffic during an emergency.

Cllr Burke said the town’s traffic problem was compounded by the amount of heavy goods vehicles using the town.

Independent general election candidate Cllr Patsy O’Brien said that Ballinrobe was ‘one of the worst towns in the country’ for traffic.

“We note that Adare is getting its full attention [for a new bypass]...and of course, because the Ryder Cup is coming there they are going to have all guns blazing and it’s supposed to be all finished by 2027. It’s a pity we hadn’t the Ryder Cup in Ballinrobe and we’d probably have it done as well,” Cllr O’Brien remarked.

Mr Hyland said that his office had prepared a report on the matter for TII but said that resources within the National Roads Design Office would be ‘a bigger challenge’

“I’m not necessarily pointing the blame on that for some of the projects that haven’t developed, but it is a realistic challenge to be able to progress it,” he said.

Mr Hyland’s office is currently working on over 20 projects throughout Mayo. He said that TII funding was currently ‘at maximum’ but said the amount of funding allocated to the Ballinrobe bypass was ‘irrelevant at present. Mr Hyland was referring to the €25,000 currently allocated to the project.

“There is no point in allocating our office €10 million for the Ballinrobe bypass, because until we get planning [permission], until we get consent for the planning and the CPO of the land, it’s irrelevant what money we have.”