Preferred route for ‘new’ N55 due
Westmeath County Council has said the preferred route for the planned redevelopment of the N55 (Ballymahon Road) outside Athlone is likely to be published in January.
In 2019, an 'emerging preferred route corridor' was published for the realignment of the busy route between Cornamaddy, in Athlone, and Ballymahon.
At the council's statutory budget meeting on Monday, director of services Barry Kehoe said consultants were now making some "minor adjustments" before the publication of the preferred route.
"Our consultants are looking at a few minor amendments to the scheme on the N55, in response to the last public consultation, and we'd be hoping to publish the preferred route in January of 2022," said Mr Kehoe.
"It is progressing. It has been slow, because considerable attention has gone into dealing with those couple of (public) submissions that we got. But we are just about there now, and hopefully we'll have it out soon."
When asked by Cllr Frankie Keena for an update on an even lengthier road development saga in Athlone, the so-called Railway Field Road between the Crescent and St Vincent's Care Centre, Mr Kehoe said the current expectation was that work on site would be starting in mid-2022.
As reported recently, the council has had to recommence its Part 8 planning process for the road because the previous planning approval was now considered outdated, having been granted 18 years ago.
"We just need to re-run the planning process, on the basis that all the various regulations have changed significantly since that was carried out in 2003, and the scheme has changed in a number of respects since then," said Mr Kehoe.
He said the Part 8 planning process would be brought before the councillors for approval in the first three months of the new year.
"We'd be hoping to be on site towards the middle of 2022 with that project," said Mr Kehoe.
In an update on the change to the use of LED bulbs in the public lighting in the county, Mr Kehoe said around 40% of the public lights in Westmeath were now LED bulbs which were brighter, more energy efficient and longer-lasting.
He said Kilkenny County Council was currently going to tender on a contract for more extensive LED lighting installation in a cluster of counties, including Westmeath.
Mr Kehoe added that the council was also planning "significant" work in Moate to install LED lighting on its Main Street in the months ahead.
"We're hoping to do a very significant job on the main street in Moate, over the next couple of months, to replace the ducting and the wiring, because it does need it, and then obviously to replace the (current) lamps with LEDs. "That work is ongoing. Hopefully we'll then see the benefit in terms of energy consumption in the budget for 2023 and onwards," he commented.