No progress on major revamp of N62

Westmeath County Council plans to upgrade the N62 from its junction with the old N6 at Fardrum to the already improved section to the north of Ballinahown. However, first a detailed study is required and funding for this study has not been allocated in 2009. This is what the members of the Athlone Area Committee heard last week when Cllr Joe Whelan raised the issue at the July meeting of the committee. Cllr Whelan (Fine Gael) said that up until about two years ago the road had been improved in increments and said he understood money had been approved for a detailed study. He asked if the National Roads Authority was considering bypassing Ballinahown village and also what detailed study had previously been done in relation to this road. Cllr Tom Allen (Fianna Fáil) said there were a number of smaller lanes feeding onto this road and the sight lines were very poor. Cllr Frankie Keena (Fianna Fáil) said he supported him on this and said this was a busy road and he didn't know how there hadn't been a serious accident on Knockinea Hill. Director of Services Barry Kehoe said he was not aware of any plans to by-pass Ballinahown village. He said the council had been improving the N62 and a few years ago an issue arose with the section of Knockinea Hill. He said there were significant issues regarding the vertical alignment and the council was proposing to do some improvements, but not to improve it to the standard of a secondary road. However, the National Roads Authority was not happy with this and asked the council to study all possibilities regarding route selection. Mr Kehoe said that route selection study had not been carried out and he hoped the council would get a grant to carry out the design work in 2010.