Relief Road lane closures to begin on Monday

From next Monday, motorists using the Athlone Relief Road will experience lane closures due to the upgrading of the route. Work on the €7m revamp of the dual carriageway will begin in earnest on Monday and is scheduled to continue until late August. It's expected to have a significant impact on users of the relief road, with mile-long stretches of two of its lanes set to be closed for at least six months from February 10 onwards. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent yesterday (Tuesday), Michael Kelly, Project Engineer in the Regional Design Office of Westmeath County Council, said the work will be carried out in eleven phases. The first phase will involve the closure of a 2km stretch of one west-bound lane in order to facilitate the installation of median crossovers. This work will begin on Monday next, January 31, and is due to be completed by Wednesday, February 9. Phases 2-11, which are expected to last from February 10 until late August, will see traffic on part of the Relief Road restricted to one lane in each direction. During phases 2-6, the two east bound lanes of the dual carriageway will be closed for a stretch of roughly a mile at a time, as the work moves from Monksland in the direction of Dublin. While this work is ongoing, a one-way traffic flow in each direction will be maintained on the other two (currently both west-bound) lanes of the dual carriageway. The process will be reversed during phases 7-11, when the two west bound carriageways will be closed for a mile at a time as they are upgraded in phases moving from the Garrycastle / N6 Kilmartin's roundabout in the direction of Galway. Interchanges, or exits, will also be closed while the work is ongoing, though only one of these can be closed at any given time. “The contractor is allowed to close one exit at a time, but for each of these exit closures there will be diversions in place and they will be signposted,†said Mr Kelly. He added that Westmeath County Council would be posting maps of the scheduled lane and exit closures on its website later this week, and these will be updated as the project proceeds. The work will be carried out on behalf of the local authority by a Mayo-based Civil Engineering company, Wills Bros Ltd, while another company, CMS, will handle traffic management during the project.