N26 Ballina Bypass

Not an observation on the need for the bypass itself but why is there an N26? Seems to be a bit of a pointless use of a national primary when a secondary would be adequate. Is there any reason for the primary designation?

Wikipedia says N26 is Mayo’s second busiest road after N5, with AADT around 10,000. It was previously the N57.

I don't think it should have been upgraded to a primary just due to traffic volumes, but it may have been done in order to push it up the funding list.

Just regarding the upgrade of the N26 from Ballina to Foxford, it appears this is now a 'live' project as far as TII are concerned.

According to Mayo Co Co this week, consultant procurement is ongoing for N26 Mount Falcon to Foxford scheme for the various phases of scheme delivery.

Qrfgt

National Primary routes are routes between the main centres in the country of urban population and to/from ports. 

National Secondary Routes generally run between centres of lesser population but still important towns, many of which are tourist routes.

Ballina is the 4th largest urban centre in the west of Ireland ( after Galway, Sligo and Castlebar).

Aside from this, daily AADT of around 10,000.

On the basis of the above national primary route designation seems appropriate.

If my memory serves me correctly, initially the N5 terminated at Castlebar but political interference resulted in Westport being designated the new termination point.

Political decision making has also resulted in a new over spec-ed dual carriageway being built into Westport while at the same time Ballina is getting crumbs from the table with Cloongullane bridge and promises of online realignment of N26.

..

Usually the road will go over the railway. Iarnród Éireann tell the designers what they need in terms of clearance and space for future works, and the bridge is included in the road project.

Level crossings are slowly being removed across the whole rail network; nobody will add a new one.

Dara Calleary has either been misquoted, or misspoke, or he is completely insane. The project hasn't even gone to Bord Pleanala yet.

The bike salesman is further muddying the waters here. Talking down the N17 yet again and saying he wants to prioritise the Ballina orbital route, but it's not clear if he means the N26/N59 link now in planning, or a full orbital route which would include new bridges over the Moy.

I suspect the Greens wouldn't have accepted this. Ryan wanted the entire transport department for a reason.

I would think he means the N26/N59. A continuation of it across the Moy won't happen for a long time.

It's a great idea, it would only be 450 metres of road across an empty field.

To be honest I'm not sure how effective the N26/N59 link will be as a bypass without a link to the Killala road. I don't know Ballina that well, but I'd imagine there's quite a lot of traffic between the Killala road and the N26 that currently goes through town.

There's already a mini ring road between the Killala road and McDermott Street. I'm not sure when it was built (maybe the late 90s?) but it looks to be of a high standard, with wide lanes and a footpath on both sides.

Once the N26/N59 link is done there would just be a short missing link between McDermott St and the N59.

Yes that ring road has been useful in diverting traffic between the N59 and Killala but it runs into housing estates at its southern end so that suggests that it isn't planned to use it as part of any future bypass.

I think the area is too residential as well for the existing ring road to work as a long term solution. The new link would almost need to begin somewhere further out past the Merry Monk. Only yesterday it was announced that 66 new homes are to be constructed on the Killala road. Traffic is only going to increase on this route so it would seem prudent to secure a wayleave in this area even if the link is not done in the short term. I would hope that it is influencing in some way the selection of the exact N26/N59 bypass route.

Thanks for that. What is the predicted timescale between that and starting on site?

Very slow indeed if that turns out to be the case. I'm sure some of those year long stages could be halved if the system was more efficient.

A piece from Irishcycle.com on the proposed bypasses for Ballina. I don't get why the proposed bypasses are not aligned but rather staggered onto the N59 and N26. Is this standard design practice? I would have thought they would all meet at roundabouts for better traffic flow.

https://irishcycle.com/2024/01/30/ballina-transport-plan-reaffirms-plan-to-route-bypass-through-green-areas-of-housing-estates/

Council is planning to link proposed bypass to Killala Road.

Mark Duffy at tonight's public consultation on the bypass proposals.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBhOXVDRagy/?igsh=M3phMndwMzRoMHk0

The fire and brimstone that people spew about the Greens on this forum is beyond childish.

Fingers crossed for sure. It's been a long wait for Ballina.

From the official drawings, the South section (design underway) will end with a three-arm roundabout on N59. The line of the northern section is not fully defined yet, and the OpenStreetMap screenshot in the Irish Cycle is misleadingly precise, and thus grossly inaccurate: the width of the indicative corridor for Phase 2 allows that to continue directly from the terminal roundabout of Phase 1.

I was talking about the Northern end, where Phase 1 ends, and Phase 2 begins (that map has North at the left, which I always find odd - maybe it’s a nod to medieval maps that put Jerusalem at the top :) ).

At the southern end, in the screengrab you posted, I don’t see anything being made worse here. There’s already a direct access to the Hollister site, but at present it’s a T-junction, here:

Now, I don’t know the area at all, but I suspect that this arrangement creates long tailbacks on N26 when drivers try to enter the factory site. A roundabout will reduce these delays by making it easier for traffic to turn right into the site (from the south), and also turn right out of it at shift-ends (northwards, towards the town).

That existing site-access road is within the project boundary, so I guess it’s going to be closed off and replaced by the roundabout