Plan for road safety work at The Pigeons revealed

Proposed road safety work improvement works on the N55 at The Pigeons were the focus of a non-statutory public information session in Athlone Civic Centre on Thursday last.

The information session was hosted by Westmeath County Council and attended by residents of the local area with members of the local authority executive available to respond to queries during the three hour event.

A non-statutory public information session is a voluntary community meeting held by a government body or project team sharing early plans, shaping designs and aiming to gather local feedback.

The proposed N55 safety improvement works, with an estimated cost of €850,000, extend from just south of the Three Jolly Pigeons pub to approximately 670 metres north at the townland of Brackagh.

Alan Kelly, Senior Executive Engineer, Westmeath County Council, said the national secondary road was identified as a "high collision location" by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the local authority was requested to identify options to improve safety and to design appropriate solutions"

"Our main objective with this scheme is to reduce the frequency and severity of collisions occurring along this section of the N55. We have addressed concerns raised by the elected members and residents of the area in relation to the safety of this section of the N55 and we are looking forward to moving to the next stage of the project following public submissions in early September," Mr Kelly said.

The Senior Executive Engineer said the proposed works will involve the "reconfiguration of this section of the N55" by "removing and reducing a number of hidden dips".

"Our objective here is to increase visibility along this 670-metre section and improve access onto the road which will help reduce the number of collisions along the N55," Mr Kelly stated.

The project will also also involve a reduction in the number of direct accesses onto the N55.

"Roadside boundaries adjacent to junctions will be set back to improve junction visibility. The local road L-54711 will be realigned where it joins the N55 and the junction moved further north to a location where the junction visibility will be greatly enhanced," the Senior Executive Engineer added.

The closing date for public submissions on the road safety improvement project is Friday, September 4, and the Senior Executive Engineer is encouraging residents in the local area to relay their views on the revised route before the scheme advances to its next stage.

"The scheme detailed design is currently with TII for approval following which planning approval will be sought.

"This is expected to take place in October and subject to funding being made available, the scheme will go to construction in early 2027 with an estimated construction time of three months," Mr Kelly concluded.