Best wishes extended to long serving Longford councillor PJ Reilly as funding secured for Granard bypass feasibility study

A relief road for Granard has moved one step closer as Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have confirmed the allocation of €100,000 for a feasibility study.

The State agency overseeing Ireland’s roads and rail infrastructural network has engaged officials from Westmeath National Roads Design Office (NRDO) to undertake the study.

TII published the 2024 grant allocations for national roads, active travel and greenways at the end of February and members of the Granard Municipal District heard the details at a meeting last week.

Under the title 'schedule works 2024' members heard Granard Municipal District has responsibility for the maintenance and repair of 54km of Regional Road, 612km of Local Road and 14km of National Roads.

The TIl Funding for the N55 Granard Bypass (Minor Works) of €100,000 was the headline item with Department Funding for Restoration Improvement for the Granard Regional Road (€346,500) and Granard Local Road (€1,726,459.25) also flagged.

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Under “Regional Roads Restoration Improvement” work on the R-396 Abbeylara Village to Cooldoney (€ 137,500), the R-194 Market Street Granard (€31,500) and the R-198 Drumlish Main Street (€177,500) were also discussed.

Local Roads Restoration Improvement will see €103,629 spent on the L-5079 Rossduff to Dunbeggan.

Members of the MD paid particular tribute to Cllr PJ Reilly for his efforts to secure the funding for the Granard scheme.

Cllr Reilly is currently recovering in hospital following a recent health scare. He raised the matter with Transport Minister Eamon Ryan when the Green party leader visited Longford last April.

That visit by the Minister was to discuss concerns about the progress of the N4 upgrade between Longford and Mullingar.

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Fine Gael Cllr Garry Murtagh told the Leader: “This is a project Cllr Reilly has been pushing for over the last number of years,” and added, “It's fantastic for the town of Granard. The money will be used to map a route for it.”

Cllr Murtagh said: “When we met with Minister Ryan last April all of the councillors were fully focused on the N4, but PJ took the opportunity to press him on this topic. Obviously that has come to fruition with this allocation of €100,000.”