Construction work to start next year on Moycullen bypass

A meeting of councillors of the Connemara Municipal District was told a contractor would be appointed for the construction of the long-awaited Moycullen bypass within twelve months.

Responding to a question from Cllr Niamh Byrne (FG), Senior Engineer with Galway County Council, Damien Mitchell, said they were working with a view to “starting work in quarter three of next year”.

This came as the local authority revealed an outline plan for road maintenance works across Connemara over the next three years.

According to Mr Mitchell, they were required to provide a plan based on the finance received last year – with extra works possible, should more funds become available.

“We have been asked to prepare plans on the 2018 figures – €13.2 million. Last year, we had the discretion to transfer 19 per cent from the €12 million road works project and the function of that was to help with the maintenance figure. In 2019, we won’t have the ability to do that and all money will have to remain within the restoration and improvement grant,” he said.

In all, this means that the Council anticipates spending just shy of €1.5 million on the maintenance Connemara roads every year, for the next three years.

Mr Mitchell said roads are assessed and those that require urgent attention have been prioritised.

In all, 30 roads in both North and South Connemara are listed as being prioritised for works, including the R336 road from Maam to Leenane, the L51033 at Claddaghduff, the R372 Bóthar Ros a’Mhíl and the L1321 Barna to Moycullen Road.

“I think it is a fairly balanced project across all the Municipal Districts. We’d love to have included more grants because we don’t feel it is sufficient.

“We looked for a lot of additional funding throughout 2018 but we haven’t been successful. If the funding goes up in 2019, then the project will change accordingly,” said Mr Mitchell.

Cllr Seosamh Ó Cualáin (Ind) said that although he had no doubt the areas listed needed to be done, there were areas that didn’t seem to be getting enough, such as the R340 Ard Mhór, Carna Road – set to have works in 2020 and 2021 to the value of €200,000.

He believed the volume of heavy goods vehicles travelling to and from Cill Chiaráin had seriously damaged the road.

“With overlaying, it seems to be the practice where you’re just overlaying the bumps and it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

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