Athlone's next street revamp to get underway early next year

Work on the latest streetscape revamp planned for the centre of Athlone is due to start within the next six months, a council meeting was told this week.

Some €4.13m million in funding was previously announced for public realm works at Mardyke Street, Pump Lane and Sean Costello Street.

A 90-metre section of Sean Costello Street, between Flannery's pub and Mardyke Street, is due to be pedestrianised as part of the plan.

Ground investigation works in preparation for the project got underway last week.

During Monday's meeting of the Athlone Moate Municipal District, council Director of Services Barry Kehoe said that, following the ground investigations, the project would go to tender and a contractor would be appointed "early in 2022."

He said the works were scheduled to commence within the first three months of the new year.

While the pedestrianisation of part of Sean Costello is the most eye-catching aspect of the project, it will also include "upgraded footpaths and a realignment of the existing carriageway along Mardyke Street," including 120 metres of "shared surface" area.

In addition, the junction of Mardyke Street, Gleeson Street, Pump Lane, and St Mary's Square is in line for an overhaul, with "a priority signalised junction" to be installed, including "enhanced" pedestrian facilities.

New public lighting and street furniture is planned, along with "incidental play equipment, cycle parking, trees, and soft landscaping to enhance biodiversity."

The council said the project was designed to "seamlessly integrate" with the Church Street works carried out in recent years.

However, traffic modelling in preparation for the project concluded it would lead to longer traffic delays on the Gleeson Street approach to the town centre.

Transport consultancy firm Systra completed a traffic modelling report which found that the streetscape revamp would cause "longer queues" on Gleeson Street, but that "the maximum queue will not affect the northern junction, The Crescent."

It said traffic flows along John Broderick Street, Irishtown and St Mary's Square "will clear in a single cycle," but traffic on Gleeson Street would not clear in a single cycle during peak times in the morning and evening.

When preparing its report, the consultancy firm carried out traffic surveys in September 2020, and used data from 2019 to factor in the pandemic's impact on traffic levels at that time.