Safety plans for key local road outlined

Roscommon County Council is in talks with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) about the possibility of a park and share facility being established close to Ganly's Roundabout in Athlone, a new report has revealed.

This is one of several eye-catching measures in an N61 Roscommon Town to Athlone Strategic Review which is bidding to improve safety conditions on the main 28km-long Athlone to Roscommon thoroughfare.

A presentation on the long-awaited report, which was compiled by consultants ROD-AECOM on behalf of the local authority, was presented to members of Roscommon County Council shortly before Christmas.

The N61 report comes after a proposed upgrade of a 14km section of the road, between Ballymurray and Knockcroghery, was suspended in 2021 due to funding constraints.

The latest review recommends a series of 107 measures to help address deficiencies along the busy Athlone to Roscommon road in the short to medium term, 15 of which are classed as "priority interventions" and would address 35 different measure identified.

Among the priority measures put forward in the presentation to local councillors include reducing the speed limit from 100km down to 80km on three stretches of the road from Roscommon town to Knockcroghery, St Brigid's GAA to Hodson Bay and Hodson Bay to Athlone (N6/N61 junction).

Parking facilities are recommended for two locations along the route, Ganly's Roundabout and Kiltoom cemetery.

"Discussions are currently ongoing between Roscommon County Council and TII re: potential Park & Share facility adjacent to Ganly’s Roundabout," the presentation given to councillors stated.

The N61 has a very high number of junctions (53), and direct accesses (601), and five are classed as priority locations for "junction optimisation", subject to design development, planning and land acquisition procedures in the study.

The presentation given on the report to Roscommon councillors at their December meeting, states that this work could cover "junction realignment and potential closures".

The five priority locations identified which combine a cluster of junctions arround St Brigid's GAA, St John's Church, Kiltoom junction, Ballybay NS and Ballymurray.

In terms of active travel measures, the report recommends priority actions such as connecting Monksland to Hodson Bay, a cycleway through Hodson Bay, linking Hodson Bay to St Brigid's, the provision of a pedestrian crossing in Knockcroghery close to the school, and connecting community facilities between the neighbouring villages of Knockcroghery and Lecarrow.

While the consultants underline the short-term measures target areas considered "most in need of intervention in terms of safety", they admit that in the long-term "a new route is required to deal with the inherent deficiencies present due to the proliferation of junctions and direct accesses on the N61 and traffic volume".

However, the review does voice concern that the National Roads 2040 report published earlier this year “effectively downgrades the role of the N61" in providing regional connectivity between the regional centres of Athlone and Sligo, something that could pose a difficulty in terms of sourcing funding in the future.

Instead the 2040 report, which is TII's long-term strategy for planning, operating and maintaining the national road network, recommends the upgrading of the N55 and N4 as the regional connection linking Sligo and Athlone. This would involve motorists travelling between Sligo and Athlone via Ballymahon and Edgeworthstown.

In terms of the next steps, the N61 Roscommon Town to Athlone Strategic Review calls for the junction improvement projects to be prioritised for implementation by Roscommon County Council.

In this regard, the local authority submitted a request for funding for the five junction improvements in the fourth quarter of this year, and these are understood to be "under consideration" as part of 2024 allocation process.

The consultants also state that the objective to upgrade the N61 to National Primary Status should be prioritised by the council so that the N61 attracts the “appropriate level of investment required in the long term” in order to fulfil its strategic role.

While welcoming what he described as an "excellent" report, Cllr Laurence Fallon voiced major concern about the status of the road into the future.

He believes the council needs to push for an upgrade of the N61 in the long-term and resist any attempts to downgrade the road, something that seems to be suggested in road policy, pushing those going from Athlone to Sligo to Edgeworthstown and Ballymahon, which he said makes "no sense" in terms of distance and would isolate Roscommon altogether.

"It's clearly stating that the road is not fit for purpose and there's a need for a new road. It's likely there will be further increases in traffic in the years ahead," he commented, adding that the N61 is already at capacity between Knockcroghery and Athlone and overcapacity right into Roscommmon town.

Cllr Fallon is of the opinion that the high volume access roads like Carna, Glanduff, St Brigid's etc, should be tackled first in terms of priority and right turning lanes be installed there (where land is available) rather than the junctions chosen as the top priorities in the report.

Curraghboy's Cllr Tony Ward has been calling for road safety measures to be enacted on the N61 throughout his almost 20 years as a member of Roscommon County Council.

He welcomed the plans to reduce the speed limit on parts of the N61 to 80km but said numerous other issues on the road needed to be tackled as a matter of urgency.

"For children in Ballybay NS, for example, you have no footpaths, no pedestrian crossing, no public lighting, and cars flying up and down the road," said Cllr Ward.

"There are (safety) issues on the N61 all the way from Ganley's to Coffey's (in Lecarrow)," he said, mentioning other problems with junctions at St Brigid's GAA and at the intersection with the Curraghboy road.

In general, Cllr Ward said the State authorities hadn't been showing any degree of urgency about improving safety on the N61, despite the fact that there had been a number of fatal accidents on the road in years gone by.

"Going back a few years ago I put a motion down calling for a new road all the way from Athlone to Roscommon, because the road isn't fit to carry the level of traffic that's on it.

"The surface (of the N61) is good. I did a lot of lobbying to have the surface upgraded on the road, and that was done. So the surface is fine, but as far as I'm concerned there are no real safety measures in place on that road," he said.