Section of the N17 preferred corridor. Full maps and details on www.n17knockcollooney.ie.

Construction of new N17 route in Mayo won't start until 2030s

CONSTRUCTION of the new €600 million N17 route between Knock airport and Collooney will not start until the 2030s.

Details of the preferred corridor for the 40-kilometre route were published this week and a public consultation process is now open until March 21.

Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District members were updated on the project at their monthly meeting yesterday (Wednesday).

The preferred corridor is 500 metres wide and the project team has met with property and landowner at risk of impact. That includes six properties in Mayo that are 'at risk' from the preliminary design.

The new road will begin at Ireland West Airport and run east of Charlestown and on to Collooney, Matthew Robb, project manager, Sligo Road Design Office, explained. It will cost €600 million and there is potential that it may be split and constructed in phases.

At this stage, interested parties are invited to make submissions, after which a report will be published.

The project will then move to detailed design and environmental evaluation, before going to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission.

It will be into the 2030s before the project would be on site, he said.

Councillor John Caulfield welcomed that a decision has been made, saying it now lifts planning restraints on people in other corridors.

He highlighted that the dangerous junctions on the section between the airport and Knock also need to be addressed, and that could be done now.

The length it takes to get projects to construction was commented on by Councillor Damien Ryan, who said 'it seems to run to infinity'. Without suppressing due process, he felt timeframes needed to be shortened.

Charlestown Councillor Gerry Murray told the project team that property owners had appreciated the way they had engaged with them.

There was, he said, disappointment that this route was not going to be a motorway, as had been identified for the Atlantic Economic Corridor, and that it was not going any further than the airport.

“It seems the Atlantic Economic Corridor has been shelved for the time being,” he commented.

On funding, the northwest region has been excluded by government for Ten-T funding, which meant there was no European funding for infrastructural projects such as this, and that would be the situation for the next 20 years. This was something our Oireachtas members had to step up to the plate on, he said.

Councillor Patsy O'Brien agreed it was 'a disgrace' that the region has been excluded and can't even apply for structural funding.