The elected members of Mayo County Council have given their support to the local authority to enter into agreement with Galway County Council for the design, planning and delivery of a relief road in Cong.
The councillors gave their approval to the agreement at their September monthly meeting which took place on Monday this week, the agreement will see Mayo County Council taking over the total development of the project including the acquiring of lands, and appointing contractors to carry out the scheme on lands that would normally be in the functional area of Galway County Council.
The agreement was welcomed by councillors from the south Mayo area, with Fianna Fáil Cllr Damien Ryan saying: "I welcome this and it is great that Mayo County Council have taken the lead in this regard. This has moved on from being nowhere sometime ago to being under consideration and money has come for the last three years to advance this.
"It is difficult terrain and there are environmental and ecological aspects to it, but Cong is blocked with commercial traffic and and passing traffic and it is worth consideration and I am proposing this that with an amendment that as fast as we can get there, mindful with the fact there are a lot of considerations that we do so and we get to the preferred route as fast as a time frame as possible. Cong needs it and it needs it as soon as possible and it has my 100 per cent support."
Fine Gael Cllr Michael Burke also welcomed the agreement saying: "It is very, very important for the village of Cong, it is a very attractive village and gets a huge amount of tourism. It has about 100 lorries about a day moving through very, very tight streets in the village, while I know money has been sanctioned, we need progress as quick as possible and we know there are tricky environmental issues to deal with it. It is a very important region and we are a bit away from getting a line, but we do need easier access to get through."
