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“WE’RE NOT ABLE to plan, we don’t know what’s going to happen to our homes. We’re stuck.”
Deirdre Goggin lives in a pristinely kept cottage near the Headford Road in Galway but faces an uncertain future. Her home is one of 54 residences subject to a compulsory purchase order (CPO) and demolition if a proposed ring road around the north of Galway city is approved.
The chronic congestion in the city has been a topic of contention in the west for years, with a bypass a large part of the conversation for over two decades.
Derrick Hambleton is a former head of the Galway branch of sustainable development NGO An Taisce. “People are just anxious to be able to get to work, to get into the shops, to do all of their regular daily things without being caught up in traffic,” he told Noteworthy.
“But a lot of people are beginning to realise that this road is not going to solve [everything].”
Hambleton was also a taxi driver in Galway for 30 years. “So I know very well about traffic and all of the problems.”
The fate of what has been presented as a key solution to those problems – the 18km N6 Ring Road around the north of Galway city – is earmarked for a decision by An Bord Pleanála (ABP) by the end of April.
Noteworthy and The Journal have been looking into the controversy around the road and its place within the wider infrastructural future envisaged for Galway city and its surrounds.
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Proposals for a road to relieve the city centre of some traffic have come and gone, dating back to the late ‘90s when studies were carried out in preparation for a bypass.
A proposal for an outer bypass was approved by An Bord Pleanála in 2008, but the plan was effectively back to square one in 2013 following a trip to the European Court of Justice.
So it was back to the drawing board for Galway City and County councils, from which emerged the current plan – the N6 Galway City Ring Road.
The 18km road would loop around the north of the city, giving drivers a way to access outer parts of the city and pass from east to west without entering the centre. It is also intended to free up road space for cyclists, pedestrians and public transport in the city centre.
However, its critics have said the proposal will do none of these things, and will simply be a costly, “overkill” solution to the congestion problem. Its developers, conversely, argue that the route would connect “to the city road network” and be effective in diverting traffic away from the city centre, creating more room for alternative travel methods.
This proposal is currently under consideration by An Bórd Pleanála with a decision expected by 30 April.
Last year, an oral hearing was held on the project in which the developers Arup – commissioned by Galway County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) – outlined their plans and assessment of the impact of the road.
Submissions were also received from people who would be affected by the project. These included some of the 54 households whose homes would be acquired if the project goes ahead as planned; people who believe the road will have a detrimental impact on the environment; and people calling for the funding and planning to instead be put on cycling, walking and other more active forms of transport.
Two decades in the deciding
The prospect of building a bypass for Galway city and its environs has been discussed, supported and opposed for more than two decades at this point.
A report from the Irish Times in 2000 said the outer bypass, which was estimated to cost £113 million, was being opposed by residents’ groups on the outskirts of Galway city.
Consultants were first appointed in 1999 to undertake feasibility studies, route selections, design and planning for a bypass. This resulted in the N6 Galway City Outer Bypass (GCOB) proposal which was submitted to An Bord Pleanála for consideration in December 2006.
This was located further north than the current ring road proposal. It was intended to be just over 21km in length, with 9km of link roads and another bridge crossing on the River Corrib.
In 2008, ABP granted approval for the eastern section of the proposal, but denied the western section due to its impacts on the Tonabrocky Bog which is located in a natural heritage area.
The approval of the Environmental Impact Statement for the scheme was appealed to the High Court by environmental activist Peter Sweetman in 2009 over impacts on the Lough Corrib – Special Area of Conservation (cSAC).
He claimed that ABP had erred in its interpretation of Article 6 of the Habitats Directive in concluding that the effect of the road scheme on the Lough Corrib protected site would not constitute an “adverse effect on the integrity of the site”.
The High Court reviewed and upheld the ABP decision, but allowed Sweetman to appeal to the Supreme Court, which he did.
The Supreme Court sought the opinion of the European Court of Justice on the interpretation of the European Habitats Directive.
The ECJ gave its judgement on 11 April 2013. It ruled that the directive must be interpreted as meaning that a plan not directly connected with the management of a site will adversely affect the integrity of that site if it’s liable to prevent the lasting preservation of a priority natural habitat.
After this ruling from the ECJ, the Supreme Court quashed the earlier ABP approval of the eastern part of the bypass. This left the council and its teams effectively back to square one in the process.
After this, a document examining the constraints of the scheme in 2014 said that alternatives to the road could be considered, “including non-road alternatives or simply upgrades of the existing network”.
The Galway Transport Strategy (GTS) was published in August 2016 which focused on the development over a 20-year period of all aspects of transport within the city centre, including public transport, cycling, walking and vehicular travel.
However it also brought the ring road back into play, stating that it is an “important element of providing” a cross-city route for road travel.
The current ring road plan was put forward to An Bord Pleanála in 2018. The then-Minister for Transport Shane Ross, Galway County Council and TII welcomed this in a statement. Ross described it as a “vitally important ring road” and said the people of Galway “will benefit hugely” from the “long awaited” decision.
The government’s 2018-2027 National Development Plan says the Galway Ring Road is estimated to cost between €550 and €600 million with an estimated completion date of 2025.
Where is the congestion coming from?
As mentioned already, the issue of traffic congestion is not disputable. All parties arguing for or against the ring road are in favour of finding a solution to the traffic problems afflicting Galway city residents.
The issue lies in concluding whether a ring road that goes outside the city centre is the solution to this problem.
According to critics of the plan, it won’t, but the developers and the council say it will ease congestion and free up road space in the city centre.
An Environmental Impact Assessment report outlined that 35% of total car trips into and around Galway City cross the River Corrib.
Of these trips, around 3% are bypass traffic. Around 40% of total trips remain on the same side of the city as they started, so they’re not trying to get from one side of the city to the other.
One-fifth – 20% – of journeys stay within the city zone, but cross the River Corrib from one side of the city to the other.
The figures are based on analysis of private car trips from or through Galway City in 2012. Based on this, the GTS assessed that a transport solution must be multi-modal and cater for a high proportion of short journeys that remain on the same side of the city, and the journeys that go from one side of the city to the other.
The report said there will be a 16% increase in public transport trips in 2039 with the road developments under the GTS compared to a scenario of not building the ring road.
Arup’s introduction at the oral hearing outlined that there are critical transport issues that “require urgent resolution”.
It said there is a “significant” lack of capacity with pedestrians, cyclists, vulnerable road users, public transport, freight and private cars “competing for space on a congested road network”.
It summarised the issues facing the city and surrounding areas:
It outlined: “The total breakdown of the transport network in Galway occurs on a frequent basis as there is no resilience in the network for example on a wet afternoon, during road maintenance, in the event of a vehicle collision and during signal outage. This random unpredictable shutdown of Galway’s transport network costs millions and has the real potential to prohibit Galway functioning as a city or economic engine for the Western region.”
Reliance on car travel
Arup said there are a number of issues constraining development in the city – these include the limited space available, residential areas verging on both sides of the River Corrib and the presence of designated sites of international significance.
It also said the Galway suburbs are low density, which has led to a reliance on car travel, making it difficult to develop an economically efficient public transport solution.
This is explored in further detail in the GTS. This strategy report said that options such as light rail would provide too much capacity for the demand.
It said “future conditions” indicated that with high-frequency services in place, the maximum demand is around 1,100 people over a one-hour period in the morning peak.
This amounts to 80-90% capacity of a frequent bus service and less than 25% of the capacity of a frequent light rail service.
A light rail service would therefore “provide capacity far in excess of what is practically required”, the GTS said.
It said that considering the cost of building and operating a light rail on top of bus services, that a bus-based public transport system “remains the most appropriate” for the city.
How did a ring road become mooted as the key solution?
Arup said an assessment of the overall transport demand was carried out as part of the evaluation of the route.
This found that through traffic or by-passable traffic is “not the major component of the problem”. It said any improvement to the national road network needed to be developed within the context of an overall transport strategy for Galway that “comprehensively considered all modes” – this resulted in the GTS.
The ring road proposal is intended to facilitate more direct journeys, divert through traffic away from the city centre and facilitate the reallocation of road space in the city centre to active modes and public transport.
It said the project will result in a number of properties being demolished and businesses acquired.
But the statement from Arup said this “must be viewed and balanced in the context of the overall benefits that the proposed” ring road will offer.
“The N6 GCRR is the optimum solution for a new road and is consistent with proper planning and sustainable development,” the intro said.
Alongside the road, there will be another bridge put across the River Corrib, a tunnel beneath Lake Corrib and a viaduct structure extending from the River Corrib bridge to traverse the NUI Galway sporting campus. There would also be a tunnel put under Galway racecourse.
Arup said this road will “facilitate the population growth” envisaged in the city by “providing space on the transport network for allocation of space to public transport and active modes”.
Arup’s oral hearing introduction also discussed the 2006 proposal. It said this differed as the 2006 route was remote from the road network of the city as it stands and relied on the existing road network to “collect and disperse traffic”.
Arup argued that the new proposal “provides a much better transport solution” on the eastern side of the city as it supports land use planning for compact and sustainable growth, it “aligns better” with sustainable transport and climate change mitigation strategies. It also argues that the plan functions more effectively in providing an alternative orbital route, that it is “much better connected to the city road network” and has a lesser impact on the natural environment.
It said the previous route was located further north from the city, which would make it less effective in diverting trips. Trips would be shorter which would also reduce emissions.
It said that overall this proposal is “much less impactful” on the environment than the 2006 plan because it doesn’t adversely impact on Lough Corrib, provides pedestrian and cycle access between two significant employment centres in Parkmore and Ballybrit, and provides improved public transport options in line with the GTS.
It also said the “considerable benefits of the proposed road development far outweigh the potential negative impacts on the receiving environment”.
Taking issue with the proposal
Overall, 296 submissions and objections were made at the oral hearing, with just 16 in support of the proposed development.
Brendan Mulligan, a chartered engineer, has lived in Galway for more than 40 years. He spoke at the oral hearing about his concerns in relation to the ring road, especially in light of current understanding of climate change and challenges to biodiversity.
Speaking to Noteworthy, he said: “What we need is transformation, not incremental change. And, in fact, this road is not even delivering incremental change in the right direction. They’re delivering change in the wrong direction.”
Mulligan is in favour of public transport models, including a light rail for Galway (a ‘Gluas’).
“If you’re unfortunate enough to be living in or to work in Parkmore on the east side of the city, the traffic congestion there for people trying to get out of there in the evenings to get home, to collect their kids from childcare and that sort of thing, it can take them up to an hour just to get out of that industrial estate, and the impact on their wellbeing is just incredible, and it’s not good enough.”
He doesn’t believe this development is a sustainable option for the city’s development.
“Proposing a project which would have such a significant increase in emissions, it seems absolutely daft and completely contrary to government policy, and EU policy,” he said.
Instead, he suggested, “we’re building more roads, bigger roads to attract even more cars into an already congested city” and claimed it was an example of developer-led planning.
‘Our lives have been put on hold’
Deirdre Goggin is one of the 54 homeowners whose house would be acquired under current plans for the ring road. She lives with her husband in a bungalow in Castlegar, a small village just a few kilometres outside the city centre. Her home is located close to Ballindooley lake.
Goggin described feeling “stuck”; she was first approached by the county council in 2014 to say the house was on one of the routes they were considering.
This route did end up being the one selected for the proposal and as a result, Deirdre’s is one of the 54 houses that will be affected should the proposed road happen. She gave evidence of her situation at last year’s oral hearing. These residences are mostly located in semi-rural locations close to the city centre.
“Our lives have been on hold. We can’t plan. Based on the valuation, I’m looking at having to put my pension pot into buying a replacement home. Which is not what I’d planned to put my pension pot into,” Goggin told Noteworthy last month.
She said most of her neighbours who are also affected are in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Instead of “retirement-proofing” their homes, they feel stuck in limbo.
She said the council is tied to the CPO process, but claims that the valuation for the house under this process would only buy a house in “one of the least desirable estates in Galway city”, as inflation and house prices have increased substantially since purchasing her home more than 30 years ago.
She and her neighbours have asked the council for a site on which a number of modest homes could be built, or for them to purchase new homes now so they can move on with the process.
However, as the plan is still under consideration by ABP, the process is stuck in limbo along with the homeowners.
“I’m not looking for a move to the promenade in Salthill.”
Goggin fears that the ring road proposal could go down the same route as the outer bypass – to a judicial review, adding additional years to the process.
And she said that while she doesn’t have a huge fear of moving herself, “for a lot of people who only lived in one place and this was their married home and never moved anywhere else, they’re finding it quite difficult to come to terms with it”.
“If they found us somewhere tomorrow, I’d be quite happy,” she said.
Ring road in a time of climate crisis
Architect Ciarán Ferrie is originally from Galway, but has lived in Dublin for years. He has been speaking up about the ring road and bypass proposals for a decade now.
He said this plan doesn’t seem “substantially different” to the 2006 proposal and said the plan has a “lack of ambition”.
In 2011, he objected that the bypass plan in place at that time was being used as a “silver bullet”.
“The difference now is we’re looking at it through the lens of the climate emergency,” he told Noteworthy.
He brings up three key claims heard in the oral hearing – that there was a lack of necessity shown for the proposed road, that the developers haven’t sufficiently considered the sustainable impact and that the plan breaches Ireland’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 7% per year.
“The real concern is that not only is this ring road not going to solve the problem, but it will actually make it worse,” he said. He said the proposal “assumes that the people who are currently driving will continue to drive”, which should change to a “push towards people changing the way that they travel”.
He said the ring road as it stands is “overkill” in fixing the congestion problem in the city.
“My view would be that the bypass is premature. That we should be first of all trying to achieve better sustainable transport road shares by investing in public transport and by investing in cycling and walking. If, after we’ve done that, we still find that we’ve got a massive transport problem, then there might be a case for building a bypass and building another road.”
The Galway Transport Strategy stressed the importance of walking and cycling measures, but said that a “significant level of traffic congestion will remain in the city”, therefore requiring the ring road solution to free up road space and make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
Ferrie said: “There’s a public public perception about it.”
However, he believes that more people are “realising this is not the right solution” to the issue with Galway traffic.
A suburb-to-suburb solution?
Peter Butler represented An Taisce’s Galway division at the oral hearing last year.
In his submission, he outlined on behalf of the organisation that the ring road “would not solve the access issues in our city centre, it would simply allow people on the suburbs to get to other suburbs”.
He said it was “based on a theoretical simulation that everybody in every car knew every piece of traffic congestion, all over the city” to bypass by the shortest route home.
Their submission didn’t question the development process, but said the claims made for the requirement for a ring road were “overstated”.
Derrick Hambleton, a retired taxi driver and the former head of An Taisce Galway, also spoke at last year’s oral hearing. He attended the oral hearing for the 2006 bypass proposal and said there “weren’t too many [people] involved at that time”.
“It was controversial, but people hadn’t really realised the full import of what this road would do and I don’t think too many people were that interested in attending oral hearings,” he said.
“I like roads, I like good roads. I was a taxi driver so I appreciate good roads and being able to go where I need to go quickly and efficiently.
“It would be very easy for us to accept the road, ‘let’s get on with it and see what happens’; but some of us are looking ahead and can see the problem and just don’t think it’s right.”
Declan Varley, the group editor of the Galway Advertiser, is no stranger to the traffic situation in the city. He’s been reporting on the issue for decades, and attended last year’s oral hearing on the ring road proposal.
“The traffic congestion in Galway is something that’s gone back for decades really,” he said.
“The level of objection to this proposal wasn’t as vociferous as I thought it would be. Now (at the oral hearing), it was vociferous and emotional in terms of the people whose houses are going to be knocked.”
Varley said the withdrawal of objections from groups such as NUI Galway “took away a lot from the objection side of the hearing”.
The withdrawal of these objections was reported last February by the Galway Advertiser and other publications.
The Advertiser reported that the NUIG objection, which had centred on the impact of the road on its plans for an extended sports campus, was withdrawn as the university had put new plans in place that mitigated this impact.
A spokesperson for NUIG told Noteworthy: “Alterations have been made to the plans to minimise any effect on the University’s sports facilities.”
Another group to withdraw its objection to the ring road proposal was medical device company Boston Scientific. A spokesperson said the objection was withdrawn as the company was “in agreement with the final plan submitted at the oral hearing”.
Varley said Arup’s well-prepared responses around areas like ecology, wildlife and biodiversity “led to accusations that there was more focus and more attention being given to the animals and the wildlife and the birds than there was to the actual humans who are going to be impacted by this”.
This was addressed by Arup in the main statement of evidence presented at the oral hearing:
It said the route selected for the ring road has the “least number of residential demolitions, whilst also being the least impacting on the receiving environment, thus demonstrating that designated sites were not prioritised over human beings and communities or vice versa”.
Varley said: “Galway hasn’t ever done itself any great favours because in the past, it had projects like the Eyre Square which went on, and on, and on, and it ended up just being a concrete plaza. So the public’s faith in projects around Galway is never very strong, however people do know that the traffic situation is so bad.”
But he said there is still a feeling that “it does need the roadway to actually take the traffic out of the city centre”.
Although most of the submissions about the project at last year’s oral hearing were objections, Varley believes the average person would be happy if the proposal is approved.
“I’d say 70% of people will be pleased if it’s approved. Maybe 30% will not I’d say because there will be a feeling that it will go the way of other Galway projects that would be a massive construction project that will dominate the city for three or four years and cause a lot of disruption.
“There will be a lot of mixed feelings about it. And it’s hard to know which way it will go because the Galway project in the past was turned down on environmental concerns. The environmental concerns this time seem to be addressed very, very well. The human concerns seem to have been addressed as well because there will be a CPO process.”
Galway County Council, Galway City Council, the planners and engineers involved on the council, and Arup, all declined requests for interviews in relation to this piece. They said as An Bord Pleanála’s decision process is ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment or discuss the proposal at this time.
A decision is due from An Bord Pleanála on this proposal at the end of this month.
If approved, the scheme will progress to the enabling and procurement phase.
“The purpose of this phase is to prepare the scheme for tender of the main construction contract, carry out the tender process and progress the land acquisition and advance works contracts,” said Andrew Moore from Transport Infrastructure Ireland in response to a PQ from Galway West TD Noel Grealish.
The oral hearing ended on 4 November last year and ABP is considering the Statutory Planning approvals for the CPO and the Environmental Impact Assessment Report.
“Transport Infrastructure Ireland has provided a grant allocation of €1,000,000 to Galway County Council for the scheme this year,” Moore wrote.
Several interviewees believe this proposal could end up in the courts if it approved, much like the 2006 scheme, although it is uncertain who is willing to take the proposal to this level.
With a decision due this month, and uncertainty around the implications of this decision, it remains to be seen whether the long-hailed ring road will be part of the solution needed to fix Galway’s traffic issues.
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Just build it ffs
@bmul: Did you know that there still isn’t a public bus route that uses the busiest stretch of road in the city, the N6 Quincentenary bridge? Either your consent has been manufactured by the city gombeens or you work for them.
@bmul: if you read the article you will learn that it is also not going to solve the traffic problem.
@Sean Byrne: If you knew the city and actually used public transport you’d also know that the value of a route using the quincentennial is fairly low due to the demographic layout of city and destinations being already reasonably serviced by existing bus routes. A “Cross Town” express on the north of the city bus service would be pretty useless for all but a very small group of people working in ballybane and ballybrit, especially in the absence of proper park and ride facilities
@Brendan Gordon: it would suit a lot of people going from Knocknacarra/Westside to Ballybrit/Parkmore instead of meandering through town for an hour.
@Brendan Gordon: I do know the city and public transport routes. Might I point out to you that NUIG and the University College Hospital are very close to the west end of the Quincentenary Bridge and those are major destinations from the east side of the city as well as the west. There’s also GMIT to the east which together make up cities largest city employment. There are about 4000 workers in Medtronic, parkmore alone but figures for the total workforce of the industrial estates that you mentioned are not insignificant. And there are the small matters that only 3% of traffic is through traffic and the Quincentenary Bridge is the cities busiest road. To hell with park and ride. You want people to invest in a car, pay repairs, tax, insurance, parking fees then use public transport? A proven failure in city.
@Sean Byrne: only 3% is through traffic but what % is rammed into town to cross the city .
@bmul: I’m not sure I understand the question. Through traffic is traffic that starts from outside and finishes outside the city. It’s not necessary that any traffic goes through town to cross the city. About 19,000 vehicles cross the N6 bridge each way daily. 97% of journeys start or terminate within city limits. Half of those at work in the city commute from outside. I hope that answers your question.
@bmul: The waffle about a GLUAS us an insult to peoples intelligence. Fact it takes approx hours travel dublin to end of M6 / N6 (220km). Then it can take up 1.5 hours to travel East to west of city (10km). Having commuted Galway – Dublin for years in 90′s + 00′s the journey could be 4 – 5 hours, endless queues. BUILD THE BYPASS NOW. GIVE GALWAY A CHANCE.
@Pseud O’Nym: your argument is flawed. A large % of people working in large factories commute from east of the county, mayo, clare etc. The absence of bypass leaves these people stranded trying to exit industrial estates (and yes some of those estates are poorly serviced)
@Pseud O’Nym: So as I said, it would suit a small number of people at very specific times of the day, a demographic of people from a dozen housing estates who work for one of 6 large employers in 2 business parks already serviced by other routes. As I said before, only worthwhile if proper park and ride facilities are available to service the entire county west of the city
@Sean Byrne: You obviously don’t, because you don’t know where the majority of those employees are travelling from, only a small fraction happen to live in the west side of the city, with most commuting locally or by car from other towns. NUIG is already well serviced with bus routes and is a 5 minute walk from the city centre. The people who benefit from park and ride are already tied to car ownership, they don’t live in the city. All you’ve pointed out to my is your own absolute ignorance on the topic
@Brendan Gordon: There is a lot more than a dozen estates between Knocknacarra, Barna, Rahoon, Newcastle, Westside, Salthill and Shantala who are commuting to Nuig, Nuihg, Terry land, liosban, ballybane, the Tuam Road, ballybrit/Parkmore.
If its only at certain times of the day so what? Better that it direct than to have to go to the city centre and wait on another bus.
The data used is from 2012 and is out of date, traffic levels are higher now (pre covid) than 9 years ago.
The road needs to be built, but realistic public transport needs to be built in tandem with it. Just as the report says.
@Robert Conneely: And they are already well serviced for all those locations by the 402,404, 405 and city direct services. The 404 and 405 don’t require switching buses, the only issue is city centre congestion.
A bus service utilising the quincentennial is a less effective use of resources of benefit to fewer people. The shift changes only occur at certain times of day but the staff on those shifts are in no way fixed, and the quincentennial itself is prone to heavy congestion, thus the requirements for a by-pass in the first place. All of which you’d know if you actually lived in westside/knocknacarra and depended on public transport as I have for the past 15 years, both as a student and for work to get to destinations on both sides of the city
@Brendan Gordon: Yes I live in Knocknacarra, but because the bus takes you through every estate instead of down the Western Distributor Road and over the bridge its a waste of my time to take it. So I cycle or drive.
I fail to see your argument against another bus route. How is more public transport a bad thing?
As you said the bridge is prone to congestion, in fact it is backed up to Moycullen and beyond in one direction, the Western distributer and out past Barna towards Spiddal from 0730 every morning. More than 20, 000 people are being funneled onto the bridge every day and the road doesn’t have the capacity.
.
@Robert Conneely: I’m not arguing against another bus route, I’m explaining to you that there isn’t one that goes across the quincantennial because it would be a waste of resources. If there’s funding for another route, it should be used for the maximum benefit to the most people, not to make your life easier by functioning as a convenient shuttle from where you personally live to where you personally want to be. The bus goes PAST housing estates because that’s where the people who use it live. All of them take fairly straightforward routes running parallel and then crossing western distributor, or using it, so is your problem that they stop to pick other people up?
The problem is, you fail to understand any of this, right down to what’s been said in this very thread.
@Brendan Gordon: I understand it well, but you don’t seem to.
Every report says the issue is crossing of the corrib. Now one would assume that you’ve been a student in Galway. If you’ve been 15 years in Galway then it seems a long time to keep your graduation pictures. You seem well able to call out other people on there situation, so what’s yours? Do you cross over to the east side of the city for work.
What is your solution to the traffic that backs out past moycullen and Spiddal?
@Brendan Gordon: What is your solution to the traffic that backs out past moycullen and Spiddal?
There should be a direct bus from East to west avoiding the city centre with a park and ride near Dangan and Barna. There are 20000 people trying to cross every day just from the west of the city, never mind the commuter towns. Increasing capacity could take hundreds of not thousands of cars off the road at that time.
I’ve no problem with the bus that stops outside my estate, but I’d rather walk 5 or 10 minutes instead of spreading 20 on a tour of Knocknacarra.
@Robert Conneely: Way to demonstrate that you didn’t even read my comments properly! I clearly stated that there’d be a need for a park and ride and in order to make a cross-town express viable, because a simple express solely from knocknacarra to ballybrit has niche use.
Well if the imaginary route that you think the bus takes is so loopy and indirect, why don’t you just walk the 10 minutes to the 405 that goes straight down WDR and into town? You just came here looking for an argument and totally embarrassed yourself
@Brendan Gordon: The 405 is a 3k walk, bit more than a 10min walk or run for that matter and starts at the end of the WDR.
You couldn’t answer the questions I asked you, saying they are addicted to their car doesn’t really cut it. So I guess youve only ever lived around westside/rahoon and worked in town or the westside of the city, and as a student probably in a bar working hours outside of the main commuting hours.
How you can think a money making service will a waste of resources is strange. You’ve made no compelling argument for/against the road and really, you’re just out to troll.
It needs to be built, freeing up the City for more public friendly transport, this is going on to long, build it! Limerick has a bypass, bundoran have a bypass, ffs just build it !
@Galwaygogo: youghal has a bypass
@James Fox: you needs to stop worrying about what we got
@Galwaygogo: bundoran has a bypass because pretty much ever vehicle wanted to go to Donegal or Sligo. Small bottlenecks needs to be bypassed even with smaller volumes. Not comparable to Galway.
They’ll probably have the road finished by the time I get to the end of this article.
Should have been built in 1990
The only solution here is to build a monorail.
@Munsterman: it put Ogdenville and North Haverbrook on the map.
@Eoghan P O’Leary: yeah but is there a chance the track could bend?
@Alex Marquis: Not on your life, my Galwegian friend.
This road is 20 years overdue, it is badly needed & will support alternative cycling and bus routes on the inner city roads. If it’s not built – Galway’s future as a place to welcome high end jobs, be a popular tourist destination and all other development which sustain it as a place to live and work will be ruined. This will be a landmark decision either way.
While my heart goes out to anybody whose home may be subject to a CPO, please just BUILD THE BLOODY THING. Galway is choking.
This ring road is well overdue , we are way behind Limerick , Cork , Dublin and even Kilkenny and Waterford who all have ring roads and function properly as city’s. It is easier to travel to work in Shannon or Limerick than to try and get to other side of Galway City if you are living anywhere south of the city . Sickening at this stage to be listening to every Tom, Dick and Harry , just build it and move on
@Finnster: Cork uses a suburban road through housing estates as a ‘north ring road’ – yes there is a good south ring road – the N40.
Galway city centre is congested so yes build the road !! but build a Motorway between Cork and Limerick first !!
@Finnster: some of my neighbours – near Athenry – go shopping in Limerick. Less time, fuel wasted and less blood pressure
54 houses would need to be demolished, with a lack of houses already in Galway where are these 54 people/families going to live?
@Sophie:
Too true! It is not good enough that 54 homes, lives of so many Seniors get upended for sake of a bypass.
Sod the cost! High time to take nuclear long-term option by building The Bobby Molloy Tunnel stretching from, to…**locations to be decided.Ones from E – W causing least amount of disruption to human lives, whatever about surrounding flora and fauna** Toll it over 100 yrs to recover the c. €3 bn cost. Motorists would be glad to pay c. €2 e/w charge for convenience.
And infrastructural funding- for key government-led projects like this long-running sore of an issue, stunting regional economic growth, particularly out Connemara can be secured at practically zero cost.
And open that bus route along Quincentennial Bridge without delay like man above recommended.
Rant over!
Can I not just read a headline and comment inappropriately
Build more roads and there will just be more cars on the roads. Create an environment where it’s acceptable to cycle around the city and be able to rely on public transport and the congestion will be eased.
@Derry Townsend: As they found out in places as diverse as Los Angeles and Birmingham: build for cars and you get cars (so you can never provide enough capacity). Build/plan for every mode of transport and you’ll get every mode, and suddenly the “car problem” isn’t a problem any more. If Galway could plan with some actual vision (but it’s not looking good), in the future they might be able to look back and realise that the decades’ delay was a blessing in disguise because the bypass was never built, and never attracted even more traffic.
@Derry Townsend: build more roads and there will be more cars? Really? Are they giving away free cars when they build roads? Not a Mensa moment. More roads means more space for the cars. That’s all. Space… the ultimate luxury in this instance.
@Derry Townsend:
The point is Galway lives in a big hinterland where there is no public transport… Cars are needed… But cars aren’t needed in the city center if possible…
There are 4 times the cars on the roads compared to when the last bridge was built.. Even simple math makes it cheaper for the people from Tuam and Athenry to drive to college each day rather than pay rent in Galway.
So if we get the cars out of the city we can then fill it with Pedestrians, Cyclists and Public Transport… There is already well developed plans to build an extra pedestrian bridge and give another bridge to public transport.
That is not happening without a by pass…
Public Transport is unreliable because of traffic, cycling is dangerous and walking is full of fumes and noise.
As for environmentalists…. By the time we get this bridge built a large chunk of cars will by hybrid and vast majority of the life of the bypass will be populated with electric cars..
As someone who grew up in Galway a ring road is needed, but the route that they have chosen is absolutely crazy. It’s supposed to be an outer bypass and yet somehow they’ve chosen to route it through some of the most expensive real estate in the city. The original route was the correct one but of course that’s history because the tree huggers wanted to protect some bog cotton.
It will never be built on this route. The residents of Bushypark have deep pockets and will pretty much ensure that when the courts become involved (which they 100% will at some stage) Galway City Council will be publicly embarrassed as the fools they are.
@Paddy Kennedy: I agree the ring road is needed but further out .
@Paddy Kennedy:
I think the Bog Cotton was thrown out because someone mentioned it only grows on freshly cut bog…
I think it was moved because they found limestone paving (1/2 acre) some where up around troonnabrooky(can’t spell)…
The City Council are could have done far better… They should have known this and mangaged it better…
O’Cuiv stated in a meeting if we could have asked to make human habitate on an equal foot to animal habitate then we could have used the original route (which you are right is by far the best route)
Sell the house, sell the car, sell the kids. Find someone else.
Hello Galway this is Dublin talking.
Amazing they can send a mission to Mars but can this lot on the planet ? can’t sought out a Road.
Cars and bypasses are not the answer
Galway politics.
Whatever you do, do nothing.
Galway doesn’t need more roads, it needs less cars trying to get INTO its tiny city centre.
Do a six month trial: get a decent public transport (radial and orbital) and park and ride in the outskirts. Ban cars, except licensed one (disability, essential commercial, etc). make cycling an easy option for people of all ages and abilities. Things will change fast.
@Stephen McManus: They arent trying to get to the city centre, but they are forced too hence the need for the bypass.
Build the road and apply what you have said.
@Stephen McManus: To put it in Dublin terms. Imagine everything West of Cabra and Crumlin is under water as far as Athboy.
Most of the work is on the North side and more than half your population is on the south side. You also need to plan for trucks to pass through from North to South and the M50 doesn’t exist.
There are a number of issues that need to be addressed along with the ring road. Firstly, the Bus Éireann city bus routes are more or less the same for the last fifty years. In that time, the population has tripled. They cross the city instead of having an interchange in Eyre Square. To get from Knocknacarra to Mervue can take over an hour, including sitting waiting on the bus in Eyre Square for ten minutes. Add to this, as a result of the traffic congestion, the buses are often late, and the times end up being merged together so one bus instead of three comes in a time span of forty-five minutes. It just makes public transport a completely unviable option. Also, the reluctance to expand the city boundaries makes realistic planning an impossibility. Oranmore, Bearna, Moycullen and Claregalway are suburbs but are not included as such. They bring the population of the city up to 100,000.
We have had this debate in Galway for a long time and while I was all for this bypass being built at the start, the fact we have so many homes that will have to be demolished and given the shortage on actual affordable houses in the area means it’s just maybe a too high price for easing the congestion problem. I don’t think you could ever end congestion in Galway, places like parkmore where a lot of major FDI’s and multinationals are based was a living traffic nightmare Monday to Friday in the morning and evening pre covid, and they thought once the gort/ tuam bypass after that was built was gonna ease congestion there, but it only put a small dent in it really….
I live to the west of the city. They should take a fraction of the proposed cost and build park and rides located in places such as spiddal and run shuttle buses in to the city. Public transport at present is scarce and way too expensive. Instead the clowns in the council are allowing luxury estates to be built along the coast in the unprotected Gaeltacht, thereby increasing the number of cars travelling in to the city.
Sometimes it’s worth remembering that an imperfect solution today is better than no solution for 10 years
@Anthony Horan: Pity we hadn’t an imperfect solution about 1990
Thousands of cars go through the tunnel in Cork everyday
75% are only going 10 miles
@trebloc01: Those cars would need to go through the City Centre if the tunnel was not there whether 25% are going over 10 ‘miles’ or not.
Cars should be only needed if you are travelling 50+ miles outside the city
@trebloc01:
How do you come up with that…
Galway has many rural areas which wouldn’t be viable for a commercial bus route… Explain how someone from rural town get to work…
The traffic is so bad the buses can’t get through the city… All traffic has to go through the city… The city needs a bypass so it can implement a proper bus service, have more cycling and safer walking…
Galway already has the highest cycling participation of any city outside Dublin… The route from Knocknacarra to Ballybrit (which is main living area to main working area) has a cycle lane for 100% of the way… The weather is inconsistent, it is hilly….
The bypass is for being pro cycling, Public Transport and freeing up the city..
Everything’s a crisis now in the media
The key issues here are resilience on the network and increased connectivity. The building of the road will also save lives by taking inappropriate trips off the city road network.
In terms of the houses, CPO is a messy process that nobody enjoys especially the affected families but we can’t build roads by threading the eye of the needle to miss all on the houses. These people will be paid around 150% of the market value of their homes and will just have to restart their life in a new house. Building 54 houses is not a big task @ €300,000 per house which would build pretty nice houses this would cost €16.2m. When you compare this to the road cost it is about 3% of the cost.
Best of luck to the project and seeing a mature well developed Galway thrive into the future.
For such a great city, this ongoing debacle over a ring road for decades is nothing short of embarrassing. Mark my words it still won’t be built in 10 years times, and Galway will still be the gridlocked hellhole that it’s always been. You look down the road at Limerick, and the brilliant road infrastructure that they have,while Galway is still stuck in the 1970s.Galway City Counciy should hang their heads in shame, or better still the government should take over and just build the bypass.
I’m not from Galway but this is all eerily familiar. Contrary to one posters comment below -Limerick does not have a bypass. Limerick local authority (in cahoots with Clare) has a remarkably similar plan for what they’re calling a Northern Distributor around the north of the city. A dual carriageway in all but name it similarly promises sun, moon and stars in terms of solving congestion issues and has gone through some similar revisions and re-inventions to Galways project including a substantial green-washing to give the appearance it’s being undertaken for the greater good of the environment and to encourage modal shift. More than half the cycle lanes Limerick Corpo have committed to build in the next decade are on the LNDR (you read that right -they’re on a road that does not exist AND they’ve counted them twice because they go in both directions!) and a good chunk more that connect won’t be built outside the context of a LNDR.
There isn’t a report produced by a anyone without a vested interest in building things this side of 1985 that suggests projects like Galways and Limericks are anything but 180 degrees the wrong way to go. You just end up broadening the low density footprint of the city and making a bad situation worse.
It’s being sold as a positive that the LNDR will open up land banks for ‘development’ by people who see green fields as ‘undeveloped land’. The simple rules of finance dictate if that were to happen Limerick, which has shocking rates of dereliction and grey and brownfield sites, can forget about those being touched for generations. I imagine Galway, for all that it fairs better in some regards, has plenty such sites as well.
What is remarkable is the determination that whatever happens, whatever the cost and regardless of the damage -the road MUST be built. The moral, environmental and financial delinquency of it is staggering.
The team building the case made a glaringly big mistake with ten fold increase of traffic on Letteragh Road and six fold increase on Cappagh Road yet no corresponding increases in the EIAR Air Quality and Climate analysis of emissions such as NO2, various sizes of particulate matter and Benzene at the same locations.
ABP won’t be long spotting it so which is right and which is wrong? Presumably traffic projections document correct and emissions one is incorrect.
In any event it will likely be shot down by the EU when they see the huge projected increase in greenhouse gases so it mightn’t even get to court.
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