Preferred option for N4 Mullingar to Roosky announced

The preferred option for the N4 Mullingar to Longford (Roosky) project has just this afternoon been announced.

The route corridor is based on the Emerging Preferred Route Corridor announced last July, but incorporating changes made as a result of the public consultation process that saw 154 submissions lodged.

According to the map issued by Westmeath County Council, Longford County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the route from Mullingar broadly aligns with the existing road as far as Lough Owel, where the first significant deviation sees it pass south of Ballinafid Lake, near The Covert pub.

It then weaves close to and away from the existing road to Bunbrosna, before shifting west of the existing road all the way from there to a point at around Shroid, east of Longford town.

At that stage, it crosses the present road to take a northward course, skirting Newtownforbes, after which it again weaves alongside the existing N4 as far as Roosky.

The project team has admitted that the impacts on land and property “will take some time to develop”.

Announcing the route, Westmeath County Council states that the present 52km section of the N4 is a single carriageway road that accounts for approximately 25% of the entire N4/M4 corridor and is the largest unimproved section of this route.

The road services upwards of 17,500 vehicles per day and features more than 500 junctions and direct accesses.

“This section of the N4 continues to see high collision statistics, with over 200 personal injury collisions reported between 2008 and 2023. Of these collisions, 20 resulted in fatalities and 35 resulted in serious injuries,” the council has stated, adding that over 50% of the collisions resulting in fatal or serious injury occurred in the last six years, from 2018 to 2023, demonstrating an upward trend.

Following the selection of the Preferred Option, the next phase of TII’s planning and design process (ie Phase 3 – Design and Environmental Evaluation) has now commenced. Subject to funding, this will involve further development of the multi-modal transport solution, including the associated design and the preparation of an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The council said that throughout the Phase 3 process, the project team is committed to continuously engaging with people living, working or who own land and property within the study area, “however the design of the road and identification of the impacts on land and property will take some time to develop”.

To prepare for the design process, the project team is to undertake a range of engineering and environmental site surveys. When these are completed, the initial design can be progressed and ay a point after that, the project team will consult with directly impacted landowners in relation to the initial design and its impact on land and property.

The map is available to view using the interactive mapping tool on the project website (www.n4mullingartolongford.ie). Additionally, the Option Selection Report has been finalised and uploaded to the project website.