Bypass: homeowners to know fate in days

The preferred route for the new city bypass is set to emerge next Wednesday, with affected landowners being the first to receive notification.

Meanwhile, a Galway West TD has claimed that a seventh route has now emerged, which comprises parts of existing routes, as well as new elements.

However, Michael Timmins, Senior Engineer with the National Road Design Office in Galway said it is “highly unlikely” that the preferred route will stray outside the existing six choices.

D-Day for landowners who live along the emerging ‘preferred route’ are expected to be informed by letter by Wednesday that they lie within the 150 metre wide corridor. The selection process has already been delayed by a fortnight.

The route will then be refined to an actual route of between 25-50 metres.

Meanwhile, it was warned this week that the prestigious ‘slot’ for the Galway Races could be lost forever, if the racetrack is closed to facilitate the construction of a new bypass.

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has already been approached by the organisers of the Killarney Races, who are eager to ‘step-in’ and take the Galway Races’ dates if Ballybrit is not in a position to commit.

The revelation was made by Galway City Councillor John Walsh who rejected any suggestion that John Moloney, racecourse manager, was engaged in ‘scaremongering’.

Cllr Walsh says the threat to the Galway Races, as a result of proposals to put a road through it, is very real.

The Fine Gael elected representative warned that Killarney is waiting in the wings to take-over Galway’s prestigious summer festival. And he said if Galway was to lose those dates (end of July/first week in August), Ballybrit might never get them back.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune