The death of a 32-year-old man brings renewed attention to parts of N17 in Mayo – The Irish Times

The death of a 32-year-old man who died after his pickup truck collided with a truck near Claremorris, Colorado Mayon Monday evening he returned his attention to a section N17 where there have been many deaths over the last year.

Sean Maye, landscape architect and father of two from Tubbercurry, Co Śligowas the seventh person to be fatally injured on a 6.5-kilometer stretch of the N17 road near Claremorris this year.

Twelve people have died on the wider N17, the main trunk road connecting counties Sligo and Galway, in the last eleven months.

The latest tragedy occurred in the town of Corbally, near the place where 47-year-old Una Bowden and her daughters Saoirse (10) and Ciara (14) lost their lives in March last year.

Launching an inquest into their deaths, Mayo County Coroner Pat O’Connor (now retired) described their deaths as an “unspeakable tragedy”.

Even though the N17 is one of the better roads in the region, it has seen a number of “terrible” tragedies, O’Connor said.

Expressing sympathy to Maye’s family and friends, Paul Lawless, the Knock-based member of Mayo County Council, said a dual carriageway was the best solution to reduce the carnage.

He said: “The traffic volume is huge, 9,200 vehicles a day.

“Following the Knock/Collooney project, plans for a dual carriageway have been reduced to a single carriageway.

“The N17 is substandard and requires modernization for economic and health and safety reasons.”

Mayo County Council has proposed closing eight junctions on a section of the N17 which has the worst accident rate.

Conrad Harley, senior engineer, presented a report on the proposed intersection closures at the October meeting of the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District.

He explained that the closure of the intersections was proposed because they “cause unnecessary confusion on a section of the N17 road that is heavily trafficked and is approaching maximum speed.”

It is also proposed to build five new right-turn lanes in several locations.

A public consultation process is planned in the near future.

Mr Maye’s funeral will be held at Tubbercurry on Thursday.