N5 Westport-Turlough Road Officially Opened by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

We were delighted to attend the official opening of the N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project this afternoon, Thursday 15^th June 2023.

We acted as Contractor’s Designer on this €250 million scheme, which included the design of a 23km long national primary road and a 2.5km national secondary road.

Following the successful opening of the 10km Castlebar bypass section in April, the final sections of the new N5 opened today include a 10km dual carriageway from Pheasanthill/Derrylea, Castlebar to Knockranny, Westport, and a 2km single carriageway northern bypass of Westport.

The project represents the largest ever Government investment in County Mayo. It will deliver numerous benefits to the west of Ireland, including improved road safety, reduced journey times, increased economic growth, and in turn, balanced regional development.

Efficiently diverting national traffic away from the town centre of both Castlebar and Westport, whilst retaining sufficient access for local traffic to the towns will also enable Castlebar and Westport to focus on sustainable transport policies, creating shorter commutes and developing safe pedestrian routes for the benefit of both locals and tourists.

RPS Managing Director in the Republic of Ireland, Willie Madden praised the good work of the project and site teams: “We celebrate the opening of this key piece of infrastructure not only for County Mayo, but also the western region as a whole. Its delivery is testament to both our project team's expertise as Contractor's Designer, led by Eamon Cox, and the outstanding work of our site team, led by Ufuk Ustener.

"By working collaboratively with contractor partner Wills BAM JV, we have successfully delivered this significant project that will positively impact the region for generations to come, improving both road safety and journey times between two of Mayo’s largest towns and enhancing economic development."

Speaking at today’s official opening, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed the new road, reiterated the Government’s focus on balanced regional development, and expressed his desire for the road to ‘drive investment and employment throughout the county and the western region.’ He also praised the work of the local authorities and project teams involved, stating that ‘when we work together, we can realise the positive vision we have for Ireland.’

The overall project also included:

• 2 compact grade separated junctions, including overbridges
• 6 roundabouts
• 59 at grade priority junctions
• 27 structures (2 rail bridges, 11 overbridges, 3 underbridges and 11 underpasses)
• associated earthworks, drainage, landscaping
• realignment of existing roads, accommodation tracks, diversion of services and ancillary works

We're proud to be market leaders in the transport infrastructure sector, having routed, designed, project-managed and supervised the construction of over 500km of the Irish national road and motorway network.