That trickiest of junctions - the Garrycastle railway bridge - is now expected to be finally finished in “early 2014”, only two and a half years after it was originally predicted for completion.
This week Westmeath County Council announced the allocation of €700,000 from the National Roads Authority (NRA ) to allow it start the tendering process, and begin the expected 15-month build by the end of the year.
Already €2 million has been spent by the council in the design and planning of this project between 2000 and 2008, a further €600,000 was released in 2009, and with this latest allocation, a balance of just €3.55 million (or less, depending on the tender process ) will be required to finish the project.
“We hope to get formal approval for the balance in 2012. We already have Department approval,” said Barry Kehoe, director of services for Athlone and Kilbeggan areas.
However, after Westmeath County Council’s monthly meeting in February 2009, a completion date of August 2011 for the project was put forward by Mr Kehoe.
“It will go to tender this year and be built in 2010. We’d expect to be on site this time next year [February 2010] and there’d be 18 months building time,” he said.
On that day, there were some concerns from the councillors about how HGV traffic might be managed over the dormant Mullingar-Athlone railway when construction would get under way.
“It’s not fit for this type of vehicle. If the [railway] line was in use I don’t think they’d be allowed over it,” said then councillor and Iarnrod Eireann employee John Butler.
However, this position was contradicted by Mr Kehoe who said the bridge was able to take these weights and “given the lack of an accident history at this location and the proposed upgrade works, it is considered the current arrangements should remain until the commencement of construction”.
Mayor of Athlone Cllr Alan Shaw described the news this week to get the tender ball rolling as “hugely significant”, and he expected the difficulties with raising the balance of €3.55m would be diluted across the three fiscal years of 2012, 2013, and 2014.
He added “the Government is committed to the construction of Garrycastle bridge”, a project he declared as a “priority” prior to his election in June 2009.
Party colleague, and local TD, Nicky McFadden has also welcomed the announcement.
“I would like to thank Minister Varadkar for his co-operation throughout my discussions with him and for allocating this much needed funding for the realignment project at the bridge. I continued to make Garrycastle Bridge a high priority and the Minister was extremely responsive to my requests,” Deputy McFadden said.
“The realignment work will benefit drivers, pedestrians, and indeed the many trucks that pass through Garrycastle Business Park. Safety is a huge issue here and people have had to deal with bottleneck traffic and bad road surfaces for a long time. I am glad that these issues can now finally be addressed,” Deputy McFadden said.
The project will be overseen by the county council rather than the town council.
