News
Bypass route options: what our readers think
Blue route preferred by 4 out of 10 respondents
The Blue and Green routes proposed by the National Roads Authority are the preferred options of 38% the 1,000 people who voted in the Tribune’s online poll.
But almost 200 of those who voted say that the city does not need a bypass or they would prefer the yet-to-be-revealed public transport option.
The question asked was which of the Galway City Bypass routes do you prefer?
1,042 people responded with 38% preferring the Blue route which crosses the Corrib just south of Menlo Castle.
The Green route, which crosses the river further north at Menlo Cemetery, is preferred by 30% of those who responded.
The Red route which is essentially a major upgrade of the existing route through the city attracted just 5% of the votes while the proposed Orange route, including its 3km tunnel under the river attracted least support.
As ever, with online polls, there were a lot of comments on the proposals with some extracts reproduced below.
Pink red and orange using existing roads are ridiculous. This is where the problem is. Only solution is new roads away from the city hence bypassing the city. Using other routes will only add bottlenecks and waste of public money.
– Niamh GriffinThere are better options than destroying people’s homes and lives just to save a 10 minute commute in the morning. And it is only when school is on or during the races that this is an issue. Maybe we need school buses – it would be cheaper.
– Chris GreaneyTaking people’s homes and livelihood and ripping through the city and hinterlands – it’s actually barbaric. People have been devastated by these shocking options.
– Peggy McConnellGalway traffic is a mess!! A relief road/bypass is essential if Galway is to develop. Possibly tunnel some of the bypass.
– James MylerGalway needs more public transportation and less cars. Invest this money in school buses, more buses per hour and more routes to the great employment centres, build a light rail system. More roads will mean more cars and an increase in the parking nightmare in the city. Also, all of these plans include evicting people from their homes, and with the housing problem already so serious and with prices rising with no apparent reason, why would we do that?
– Carla FernandesIs the NRA still using the urban planning manuals from the 1950s?
– Seán LeonardIt would be crazy to not use the green or the blue route or we will be going back again in 20 years to put another outer road. But … neither of these routes will be built as there is no money.
– Jonathan CorbettThinking ahead in terms of growing city – the Green route meets our needs now and for the future. It leaves lots of expansion for our city suburbs. Thinking of short term solutions (the other options) is what got us in this mess in the first place.
– Fergal HynesTo those who voted green and perhaps were looking to the future, I would argue that the blue/pink routes cater for access from north of these routes also and therefore for future expansion of the city.
– John O’MearaAnyone who says that we can forget about cars and not do a bypass lives in Cloud Cuckoo Land. It is standard practice that a bypass is the first of a number of elements to improving transport – that IMO is the mature attitude. Of course, simply building more and more roads to solve a city’s traffic problem is no solution, but to belligerently build no roads is no solution either. What’s needed is integrated transport thinking and the Galway City Transport Project is going that direction.
– C HowlettThe traffic in the west-side of the city is never that busy it seems to move quite good when it is busy. One hour in the morning for schools and one hour in the evening traffic.
– Paschal ConneelyI would beg of you as Galwegians do not rush into this , the bypass is not a good solution it is there to serve the few not the many, Ask ourselves what is causing the congestion ? I dare to say commuting singular car traffic. The solution may lie in offering a different mode of commuter transport i.e. a light rail system.
– Joe Kelly (SUIG Light Rail)A few suggestions….how about retrofitting the existing Quincentenary Bridge similar to the Wolfe Tone Bridge? …..it staggering that there is little or no connection to the major industrial estates on the east of the city to meaningful public transport. How about staggering working hours in the major industrial employers?
– John QuirkeHere we go again, the alternative solutions brigade with suggestions that we change working hours, and build a light rail and what not. Try to avoid building a bypass by somehow rolling out loads of changes to numerous stakeholders and assuming that resources will be found to pay for it all! Build the bypass and give so many of us a little part of our lives back every day.
– M WalshIt takes me 2.5 hours to get from Cork to Galway and on my last visit to my friend in October 2014 it took me 2 hours from Renmore to Cappagh Road – I probably would have walked there quicker! I discourage all my Cork friends and family to go to Galway because of the traffic. PLEASE SORT IT OUT.
– Val Byrne, Cobh
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
