Funding secured for Mullingar to Longford road design

Funding has been allocated towards the upgrade to the N4 Mullingar to Longford Road, according to a local TD.

Fianna Fáil Deputy Joe Flaherty said that Transport Infrastructure Ireland will be announcing the news in the coming weeks.

The €2m allocation will advance the project to the route design phase, after plans had stalled over the last 17 months without an update.

It previously reached the design phase in 2010 but was shelved for economic reasons.

The 54km stretch of road has become a blackspot for road accidents in recent years, and more than 20 fatalities and 200 other accidents have occurred since 2008.

Deputy Flaherty said the upgrade is positive news for the midlands.

“It’s a very important piece of infrastructure,” he told the Westmeath Examiner.

“Industry will always tell you they need to get to the airports and ports as quickly as possible.

“Ten minutes of a journey is important to them if they are transporting multi-million euro worth of goods - so we need the best roads possible.”

Deputy Flaherty said landowners along the route had been left in limbo for many years.

“This is also positive in terms of certainty for landowners between Mullingar and Longford,” he said.

“Many landbanks had been sterilised for a long time, in that they couldn’t be used while a number of different routes were under selection.

“This announcement of funding will narrow things down to one preferred route and one design, which will take away a lot of the uncertainty around the project.”

The funding was also welcomed by Fine Gael Senator Micheal Carrigy, who hopes the project can progress more quickly now.

“I would hope that this will progress to the design and environmental phase by year-end,” he said.

“I have raised this on numerous occasions over the years and, at an [Oireachtas meeting] on Transport and Communications, it was agreed that this project was well worth progressing and that this section of the network is less than the ideal level of performance.

“So, I am more than happy that the N4 is back on the agenda.”