Work on new west Mayo €241m. roadway set to recommence

WORK on the new €241 million Turlough to Westport dual carriage will recommence on May 18 following the lifting of restrictions on outdoor workers.

The development, at an overall cost of €241 million, involves the construction of 20.3km of dual carriageway from Westport to Turlough.

The route stretches from Deerpark East in Westport to the village of Ballyneggin, near Turlough, Castlebar, in addition to a 2.5km single carriageway link to the N59 Westport to Mulranny national secondary road.

The main contractors are the BAM Wills JV partnership and it is the biggest single infrastructural investment ever undertaken in Mayo and will completely transform the landscape of west Mayo. When completed, the road will link Castlebar and Westport into a single cluster which will be on a par with growth centres identified in the current National Planning Framework.

This cluster is expected to encourage investment into the county and bring economic development benefits for all of Mayo.

Once the preparatory site works on the route are completed, work on the overall project is estimated to take up to 24 months.

Councillor Cyril Burke said an investment of this scale will deliver numerous benefits for the west region, including improved road safety by reducing the frequency and severity of collisions and casualties on the existing stretch of the N5.

Reduced journey times for traffic travelling between Mayo and the east will also support economic growth in the region and in turn improve balanced regional development, he added.