Planning bid for new N61 section could be lodged in 2023

A planning application for the new section of the N61 road between Athlone and Roscommon could be submitted by the end of the first quarter of 2023, Roscommon County Council has announced.

The news emerged as the council confirmed a preferred route corridor for the new section of the road spanning from south of Roscommon town to just north of Carnagh.

The preferred route corridor diverts from the current N61 before the railway gates at Ballymurray, before crossing the railway line and then the existing N61 between Finneran’s pub and the Kilteevan turn off, just outside the village of Knockcroghery. The route then proceeds south through Corbooley and then down to Nolan’s Cross beyond Lecarrow village.

The preferred route corridor is typically 300m wide but the council has stressed this does not represent the actual width of the road scheme or the lands to be acquired, but simply indicates the lands within which the road could be developed.

An emerging preferred route corridor option for the Ballymurray to Knockcroghery road project, as it is known, had been published in December last.

Following public submissions, the council has now published an option selection report, which outlines the process of selecting the preferred route corridor.

The slightly amended new preferred route corridor has been widened to the south in the vicinity of the existing N61 and Portrunny Road, in the townlands of Newtown and Cloonconra to provide greater flexibility in the design of the road within the corridor at the next phase of design development.

In a statement, the council said work will now commence on the proposed design of the road and the preparation of the statutory planning application documentation, including environmental impact reports and compulsory purchase order documentation, subject to approval. At that stage, the formal statutory consultation periods will commence.

This work is envisaged to be undertaken from quarter four in 2021 and run into 2023.

During this design process, the council said the project team is committed to engaging with people living, working or who own land and property within the study area.

It added: “When the design is developed to a sufficient level of detail, further public consultation events will be held, including one to one meetings for those directly or indirectly impacted by the scheme. The feedback from these consultation events and meetings will be considered, and amendments may be made, prior to finalising the design and landtake requirements where appropriate.”

The council says with the support of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), it is progressing the N61 project due to the very significant traffic growth in the last 15 years and become of the road's increasing importance as a link to the M6 motorway as well as the existence of the economic development zone at Monksland/Bealnamulla and the regional centre of Athlone.

The council said the N61 is not fit for purpose and has an accident rate 30% above the national average.