Cllr Frankie Keena said a consultants report showing that residents near the Athlone N6 dual carriageway were experiencing excessive noise from traffic had been “gathering dust” for the last year.

No progress on tackling "unacceptable" noise from Athlone N6 relief road

Adrian Cusack

Published: Fri 17 May 2024, 5:41 PM

One year after a noise monitoring survey found that residents close to the Athlone N6 Relief Road were facing excessive and intrusive noise from passing traffic, no progress has been made on a proposed multi-million euro sound barrier to improve their quality of life.

Last May, a noise monitoring survey at seven residential areas along the N6 Athlone Relief Road found that traffic noise in all seven areas was above recommended guidelines both during the day and at night.

The survey was carried out by consultants on behalf of Westmeath County Council, and it assessed the noise levels near the dual carriageway at Abbeygarth, Priory Park, Arcadia Court, Arcadia Crescent, Cloghanboy Close, Bloomfield Drive and Altown.

It found that noise levels at these locations were "dominated by traffic noise", which exceeded Transport Infrastructure Ireland's (TII) design goal of 60 decibels and also breached the night-time limit of 55 decibels as recommended by the World Health Organisation.

This week, at the monthly meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, Cllr Frankie Keena said the noise survey had since been "gathering dust" and that there had been no progress on a sound barrier to quieten the traffic for residents.

"This is shameful and not acceptable. There is no use in commissioning a report and then leaving it on the shelf to gather dust," said Cllr Keena.

A deputation from the council met with Minister of State for Transport Jack Chambers to discuss the issue last autumn, and Cllr Paul Hogan said they were told at this meeting that the traffic noise on the Athlone N6 was "a legacy issue" and that TII didn't fund solutions to legacy issues.

He said he learned that the TII had in fact previously funded a sound barrier in Carrickmacross, on the N2, as a once-off legacy issue resolution, and as a result he said the matter should be taken up with TII again.

"It's not the responsibility of this (council) to provide that sound barrier, because you're going to run into millions of euros, potentially, to put it up," said Cllr Hogan.

"Will it be two metres, will it be three metres? It might be three metres in parts. But it needs to happen for all of those residents who have been putting up with increased levels of noise on that dual carriageway since the mid-90s."

Cllr Frankie Keena's motion at the Municipal District meeting on Monday meeting suggested that it write to Environment Minister Eamon Ryan "to seek clarity once and for all as to who is responsible to fund the erecting of these noise barriers".

Cllr Aengus O'Rourke felt it would be better to write to Minister of State Jack Chambers, as a follow-up from the meeting with him last year.

Athlone Mayor Louise Heavin suggested that reducing speeds on the N6 - potentially by seeking the installation of a permanent speed camera - should be considered.

She said this might bring about improvement for the residents as an interim measure, and would be less expensive than installing sound barriers.

The discussion ended with agreement that the Municipal District would write to both Minister Ryan and Minister of State Chambers about the issue.