Mayo councillor urges fast-track for N59 upgrade to cut disruption

AN Achill based councillor raised concerns over the timeline for the next phases of the N59 upgrade between Newport and Mulranny.

At this week's meeting of Westport/Belmullet MD councillors heard that impacted commuters could face up to eight years of disruption along the popular tourist route from Newport to Mulranny if works are to proceed as planned.

Fianna Fáil councillor Paul McNamara welcomed the significant investment earmarked for the project, estimated at over €30 million, but said the pace of progress needs to be examined.

“It’s great to see this progress and that consultants have now engaged. The plan is to go to contract for four to five years, bringing the route from Nevins through Newfield right up to Mulranny.

"But the final two phases are only 5 and 10 kilometres each. If we split them up, we could be looking at six or seven years of disruption,” he said.

The Achill-based councillor argued that phases two and three should be merged to shorten the timeline.

“Over the next four or five years, people will already be dealing with disruption.

"We saw the N4 bypass delivered within two years, so why should the N59 take twice as long? Eight years is far too long to ask people to wait,” he said.

Council staff explained that the decision ultimately rests with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and will depend on funding allocations.

“It’s an issue we will raise at our monthly meetings with TII,” a council engineer said.