The chances of the Athlone relief road being designated as motorway moved a little closer this week after Westmeath County Council accepted responsibility from Roscommon for its overhaul later this summer.
At the monthy meeting of Westmeath County Council, which took place on Monday April 26, it was revealed the National Roads Authority had released the€7 million in funds necessary to increase capacity at the six interchanges between Creggan and Baylough, upgrade the central safety barrier and resurface the stretch of carriageway. No figures for the project were released.
“There will be delays,” said Ambrose Clarke, senior executive engineer, “ but the road will be kept open throughout the works.”
With the European triathlon championship and the Festival of Europe coming to town this summer, Cllr Gabrielle McFadden made an enquiry as to the projected start date for the works and was told “best guess at the moment would be late August”.
Mr Clarke explained how there has been “some problems getting traffic off the relief road and onto the minor roads”.
“We hope to have a plan in place by the end of the year to alleviate this, whether it’s roundabouts or traffic lights,” he said but added: “There won’t be any work in increasing the capacity of the ramps”.
It was also revealed that all the communication and telecoms cable ducts buried in the central median will have to be moved to the side of the road.
“The road cannot become a motorway until this happens,” said Mr Clarke, before adding that his section was looking at the possibility of whether extra lanes could be built on the central reservation if needed.
As half of this stretch is in a separate jurisdiction, Westmeath had to await a Section 85 ceding of the road from Roscommon, which was accepted this week.
