Bypass of gridlocked Mayo town needs to be fast-tracked

MINISTER for Infrastructure Jack Chambers has been asked to fast-track the Ballinrobe bypass.

The town and county can no longer wait, said local Councillor Michael Burke, with the town frequently gridlocked.

It seems that it will probably be about 2033 by the time the bypass happens in Ballinrobe, Councillor Burke told a meeting of Mayo County Council.

It's going at a snail's pace, meanwhile traffic is crazy, and he admitted switching off his phone on Friday afternoons.

Recently he saw three ambulances trying to get through and held up in traffic.

He was asking the minister to fast-track the bypass, or a link road in the short-term, as it is essential for the area.

If they have to wait seven years it's going to be chaotic.

The traffic was described as being a 'nightmare' in the evenings by Councillor Patsy O'Brien. And he also explained how local roads are being used to bypass the town and they are not able to take the traffic.

The issue for the ambulances was serious and an air ambulance was more in line to be used in the area from now on, he suggested.

A route for a bypass was on the cards from 2006 to '16 but it didn't materialise.

The corridor is still sterilised and will probably be the route that will be reaffirmed, said Councillor Damien Ryan. With a corridor identified, there has to be a mechanism to fast-track the preferred route again, he said.

TII are looking at part two of a traffic management plan for the town but it is nothing near what's needed to deal with the sheer volume every day and particularly at weekends.

Ballinrobe, he said, is probably the worst bottleneck in the county, if not the province, and they need to get a route.

The urgency of it cannot be underestimated and it needs political pressure and priority within the local authority and department.

People are frustrated and driven mad and the situation is no longer sustainable or acceptable.

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