A famously narrow street will finally be widened over the course of the next year – but already disappointment has been expressed over the delay involved.

The bottleneck at the heart of Dunmore is to be widened – a process that will involve the removal of vacant buildings in the village centre.

Cllr Ollie Turner – was speaking at a Tuam Municipal Council meeting – said that it was essential that the street be widened as it was a danger to traffic coming from both directions.

But he said that the timeline needs to be addressed.

“The clock is ticking on it so the one thing the Council needs to do is to proceed with the original proposed scheme. This basically means that Bridge Street to the Square will be developed initially. The Piper Reilly side is what they are going to be looking at first,” he said.

“They are going to have to do a survey and that is going to be carried out next April and will involve local residents. Bats are also being mentioned, so it is going to be next April or May before the planning process can begin which is very frustrating.

In terms of a timeline, it is going towards the middle of next year before we will see any physical movement.

“It will be making Bridge Street safer and that is no harm. It’s a slow burner but that is what we expect. I am confident they will deliver this,” added Cllr Turner.

Pictured: Cllr Ollie Turner at Bridge Street, Dunmore where he said that the gutters on the vacant buildings are ready to collapse.