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COUNTY ROSCOMMON WILL finally see a major roadworks project undertaken to replace “one of the most treacherous” stretches of primary road in the country, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has announced.
The N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project was approved by Cabinet today and will now progress to the construction phase.
The new single carriageway road will cover roughly 34km that will extend from the western end of the existing N5 Ballaghaderreen Bypass to the townland of Scramoge in County Roscommon, bypassing the towns and villages of Frenchpark, Bellanagare, Tulsk and Strokestown.
Originally approved in 2021 at a cost of €200 million, the project has been held back as a result of the last contractor going into liquidation.
Now the price of the project has more than doubled to €450 million. Ryan blamed the increase on “inflationary pressures alongside rising costs of construction materials and elevated levels of shipping and logistic costs”.
Ryan cited safety concerns about the stretch of existing road as the primary reason for its replacement while also saying it would improve access to the west and north-west of the country.
“The Ballaghadereen to Scramoge project will replace one of the most treacherous sections of primary road in the country. By completing the missing links in the N5 corridor it will improve access to the west and northwest.
“The new route will also make the towns and villages it serves more attractive places to live, work and shop by diverting heavy traffic, trucks and other heavy goods vehicles out of their centres,” he said.
The minister also said that building bypasses is a priority for his department amid rising costs.
Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers said: “This scheme, which was approved at Government today, will eliminate sections of the N5 that have had collision rates nearly twice above the national road average.”
He added that the new route would reduce travel times and therefore costs.
CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland Peter Walsh said: “We very much welcome Government approval for the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge project today.”
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Half a billion for than 20 miles of road.
This is HALF of what it costs in urban areas of the US. Half.
Just plain mismanagement and probably corruption.
We Irish can’t do big projects.
@Chris O’Brien: was thinking the same,but also 200 million in 21,and now 450 million 2 years later
@Chris O’Brien: So it costs 1 billion in the US??
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: Didn’t spot that, nice one.
@Chris O’Brien: what corruption are you talking about??
@Liam23: The corruption in his head.
@Chris O’Brien: great country:) Al Capone was less of a gangster than the shower running this country he’d be amazed he was a joke next to them
Single carriageway roadway….Wow let’s celebrate like its the 1930s. Perfect proactive solution not to include passing lanes on new construction. Car with trailer max speed 80km; car behind it max speed 100 with no safe area to pass, what could go wrong? Solution they come up with rather than acknowledge their failure is to reduce speed limits to 80 for all. Simple decisions designed by simple minds.
@Irish Conservative: Completely new road and area relatively flat so road should be straight enough, similar to Ballagh/Charlestown bypass. Overtaking slower traffic should not be a problem with a bit of common sense.
@Bert Carolan: It is usually the volume of on coming traffic that creates the problem for passing. Single carriageway roads are Seven times (7x) more dangerous compared to dual lanes per Road Safety Foundation. Building passing lanes to alleviate congestion safely is common sense.
@Irish Conservative: If your stats are correct then fair point, though I do think we have a tendancy in this country to blame roads and speed limits for accidents rather than driver behaviour.
They should continue the M4 all the way to all the way to Sligo and be done with it. Small-minded thinking again, like we don’t want any of those 10-story skyscrapers in Dublin.
God they were depressing towns to go through…all the same I’ll miss them..
@hi from heaven: Strokestown not bad. I won’t miss the stretch of road, you could be stuck behind a truck for miles.
Take a detour through Clondra and it’s 3 bridges sometime just to see what the main road used to be like.
@hi from heaven: well I won’t miss them, has to be the worst stretch of road in the country
@Bert Carolan: Took a trip just now, thanks Google Streetview and oh my! It was barely designed for an ass and cart!
13.2 million a kilometer…. Is it the heated road or something.
@JJ Dolan: in fairness there will be no bends in it. Straight as f%ck, like whoever builds it.
Watch whoever gets the contract milk the taxpayers like a prize cow. I’ll bet the same road could be built abroad for a fraction of that cost. We have a reputation as being prime for riding when it comes to construction, we just bend over every time
More than doubled in price! Will probably cost €600 million. The country is run by buffoons!
@Fred Coloe: not fair on buffoons
@Fred Coloe:
True but then the guy who but I the bid of €200 million went bust……
I’d be more concerned that the contract is a bit more water tight than the children’s hospital one.
It didn’t really double in price… same as the childrens hospital, they low ball and then add on extras..
Only difference is road bridge bluff was called on a couple of projects that they had done previously and hence went bust..
@hi from heaven:
Bullseye
€450m…..So the final cost will be closer to €600m
Something wrong with the costings here for a Single Carriage Way Road, the new 30 Klm A6 Derry to Dungiven Dual Carriage Way has just been completed at a total cost of £250 Million Stg, which is a lot cheaper per Klm than it is in the South.
It would be nice to get a breakdown on where the money goes. How much to planners, how much to engineers, ect
Will have to make Strokestown detour for chips in Antonelli’s …
Taking the aul roads in I see
The money was all spent on archaeologists, ecologists, planners and lawyers – the “make work” crowd. People need to remember that money spent by the government goes somewhere – it doesn’t just go into a black hole – it goes towards paying labourers, digger drivers, quarries, tarmac contractors, plant hire companies, engineers, fuel suppliers, mechanics and a lot of the local shops will see a lot more trade during construction. SO this money goes into the economy – OUR economy, it helps stimulate economic growth, it helps people put food on the table and pay their mortgages, it provides employment in an area of the country that has suffered underinvestment for generations. It’s about time the NW got some of what Munster & Leinster have – capital expenditure and investment.
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