Galway is dealing with ‘disaster’ gridlock every night of the week – with people taking over an hour to get from one side of the city to the other.
As part of Newstalk’s Summer Tour, The Pat Kenny Show is broadcasting from the west coast county today.
Reporter Josh Crosbie travelled across the county talking to business leaders, drivers and cycling advocates to find out all about one of Galway’s biggest gripes – traffic.
In 2018, plans for an 18km ring road in Galway City were submitted and approved by An Bord Pleanála in 2021.
The plans came before The High Court in February of this year because An Bord Pleanála did not take the state's climate action plan into account when it was making the decision to approve the plans.
Josh Crosbie on The Pat Kenny Show for his report on Galway traffic (Credit: Newstalk)The Gridlock
Speaking to Josh, Galway drivers described the “disaster” gridlock they experience every day on their commute to the city.
“It's a disaster every single evening, it’s about an hour and a half to get home from the east side of Galway to the west side,” one driver said.
“I'm too far for public transport really – I’m about 15 miles from the other side of Galway.”
One driver who lived in Athenry said her journey typically takes 45 minutes to an hour.
“Get this ring road over the line to make everyone's life a little bit easier and a little bit better,” she said.
Another driver who lived on the west side of the city said he would welcome the bypass.
“There’s plenty of objections there so I'm not sure if we'll ever see it,” he said.
Cyclists
Galway Cycling Campaign Chairperson Reg Turner said cyclists have only seen minor safety improvements in recent years.
“The rate of improvement is really slow,” he said.
“There’s incidents happening constantly, people are being put in very serious situations all the time.”
.@JoshCrosbie3 chats with @MartinaCallanan about the need for more road safety in Galway - listen live for more now🚴📻 pic.twitter.com/f9bPY9Ymn3
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) June 7, 2023
Deputy Chair Martina Callanan said Galway is a city that is “car-dominated.”
“It's Carmageddon – it isn't a safe place to cycle,” she said.
“There's not enough separate cycleways and there's not enough good culture on our roads of adults driving their vehicles safely in consideration for other road users.
“Our council and our counsellors need to pull the finger out and delaying is denying road safety.”
Businesses
Galway Chamber of Commerce CEO Kenneth Deery said there is a push from business owners to have the ring road built and for public transport to improve.
“The challenge we have at the moment is the legislative and statutory processes are really taking time to deliver,” he said.
“Being optimistic, it could be 2027/2028 before we actually get through the processes that we need to deliver this one piece of infrastructure alone."
Listen to @JoshCrosbie3’s report on Galway traffic now🚗 pic.twitter.com/kM8W7mX2az
— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) June 7, 2023
Mr Deery said in order to allow better bus connections and cycling infrastructure, Galway city must first deliver on the ring road.
“We're now back to that waiting game in terms of when will the file be reopened. How are people going to be engaged in it?
“I think the key thing from the business community is they like timelines and some degree of certainty and at the moment we're lacking that.
“One of the frustrations that are had certainly within the business community at this stage is the ease with which people can object to projects and not even potentially be from the area.”
