IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

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Enceladus
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IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

This important road project, entailing a full bypass of the large town of Castlebar, county town of County Mayo in the West of Ireland will replace the largely substandard section of N5 between Castlebar and Westport (the latter town a key tourist resort) and work commenced earlier this year after many years of postponements and delays. Work is being carried out under the auspices of TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland).

The N5 between Castlebar and Westport is currently very overloaded with traffic and the existing Southern inner ring road of Castlebar, completed in the early 1990s, is no longer fit for purpose as the town has since expanded beyond the line of this route and local traffic has impacted the original purpose of this road to act as a bypass of Castlebar for through traffic.

The 23.7km route which will be a Type 2 DC (2+2 dual carriageway) stretches from northwest of Westport in the townland of Deerpark East to a point east of Castlebar in the townland of Turlough. It will include a new southern bypass of Castlebar and a northern bypass of Westport town.

The work will involve the construction of eleven overbridges, six roundabouts, two underbridges and seven farm underpasses. The route also includes two rail bridges over the Westport to Manulla Junction railway line.

The design of the proposed N5 mainline is a Type 2 Dual Carriageway with major junctions proposed at the intersection of the N59, existing N5, N84 and N60.

Good progress is currently being made with earthworks well underway to the south of Castlebar and construction of the main structures along the route getting started. It is expected the new route will be open to traffic in 2022.
Last edited by Enceladus on Sun Sep 27, 2020 15:54, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Bryn666 »

Excellent, I had wondered why Mayo seemed to be the forgotten corner.

I take it there is zero chance of an ROI M5 being built?
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Bryn666 wrote: Sun Aug 09, 2020 16:51 Excellent, I had wondered why Mayo seemed to be the forgotten corner.

I take it there is zero chance of an ROI M5 being built?


Absolutely zilch...

The N5 traffic levels would never warrant the expense and overcapacity of a motorway, and 2+2 DC will be very adequate for the currently rather over-trafficked road.

The N5 has seen a number of major road improvement projects over the past 20 years, mainly wide single carriageway town bypasses with grade separation and grade-separated junctions.
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Excellent progress being made on the earthworks for this major scheme, according to very recent drone footage that can be seen in the link below:

[url][https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=96331 ... 1ZXbQ1/url]


The locals are giving out that there won’t be more local accesses to the new N5 scheme, and that they will be inconvenienced accessing the new road from West of Castlebar, but that’s a common gripe with most road projects involving GSJs. You can’t please everyone...
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

March 2021 video
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Fantastic progress being made in this critical piece of new road infrastructure - earthworks are about 70 per cent complete and most of the bridge structures are being put quickly into place. :D

See the link below:
https://apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browse ... TRUE_COLOR
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Latest newsletter on the N5 Westport to Turlough road project linked below.

Excellent progress continues to be made. :)

https://n5w2t.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... letter.pdf
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by c2R »

Thanks for these updates; I've added a scheme page here: https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/ind ... mprovement
Is there a road improvement project going on near you? Help us to document it on the SABRE Wiki - help is available in the Digest forum.
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From the SABRE Wiki: N5/Westport to Turlough Improvement :

The Westport to Turlough Improvement scheme is an 2+2 Type 2 dual carriageway scheme aimed at bypassing a substandard section of the N5 between Westport and Turlough, east of Castlebar. The scheme involves a 23.7km length of offline section of road and provides a new bypass of Castlebar, the existing 1990s bypass having been subsumed by development. It also provides for a realignment of the N59 as it approaches Westport from the north and includes a northern bypass of

... Read More
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

Nice satellite photo showing road at the end of May (dates on the link could be updated)

The bypass terminates on the N59 and the scheme also includes a couple of Km of N59 improvement to the North to remove especially sharp bends.

also nice pic of works from boards.ie here https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/attachm ... 1623070591
there is some discussion there about why the bridge is so wide in comparison to the road N84 it carries (see right hand side), the likely explanation is turning lanes for the ramps on to the new N5.

This work will see Westport and Castlebar in pretty good shape road wise
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

Some more bits and pieces from Boards.ie
Newspaper report

video of roundabout tie in at Western end


N84 junction (Pic from Jack Walsh drone photography)
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/JR ... 210144.jpg

some deep cuts in the Drumlin countryside. There will be nice views on this route
https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/R8 ... 130508.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/60 ... 130341.jpg

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/OH ... 132233.jpg
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

Another shot of where the greenway on the old MGWR railway will pass under the new road (see the stone arch on the existing road)

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/BQ ... 3533-n.jpg
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Good overall progress continues to be made on the 2+2 DC N5 Turlough to Westport road scheme...

...but it seems that the project is now running at two speeds, with the Eastern section including the bypass of Castlebar close to completion (earthworks complete, wearing course being laid, GSJs and bridges nearly complete) but the Western section north of Westport town is now running well behind schedule with many delays, making me (and others) think that this scheme will probably open in two phases with the Castlebar bypass section opening first, possibly later this year.

Images taken from boards.ie

Image


Image


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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by Enceladus »

Another great aerial photo of the N5 Turlough to Westport 2+2 DC project. Croagh Patrick mountain (which I climbed years ago) is in the distance.

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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by murphaph »

What is left to do on the N5 once this scheme is completely open?
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bothar »

murphaph wrote: Wed Nov 30, 2022 21:43 What is left to do on the N5 once this scheme is completely open?
The section around Strokestown will pretty much mean that it has all been upgraded
viewtopic.php?p=1050914
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by murphaph »

Ah very good. Hopefully that gets done soon. Bit by bit the national primaries are all getting done.
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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

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Image

Image

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Re: IRL: N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project

Post by bart »

So somebody has decided that acceleration lanes aren't important? That junction makes the A34 Newbury bypass look positively over-engineered!
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