Call for rethink on Salmon Weir pedestrian bridge

Galway City Council has been asked to consider a ‘rethink’ on its proposals for a new pedestrian bridge south of the current Salmon Weir structure.

Cllr John Connolly told a meeting of the City Council that with buses having ongoing problems in negotiating the current Salmon Weir bridge, maybe a better idea would be to use the new crossing for vehicular traffic.

“This is a critical crossing point not only for many city buses but also for buses on the Carraroe and Clifden routes. The bridge is not suitable for bus traffic,” said Cllr Connolly.

He said that there was still time for the City Council to have a rethink on the new bridge proposal which involved a spend of around €7 million.

Cllr Frank Fahy – a city taxi driver – said that he regularly witnessed buses having difficulty in making the turn over the Salmon Weir bridge.

He also said that the other main pinch point for the buses in the city centre area was in the Eglinton Street area, where parked cars just made it impossible for buses to pass.

“I do think that there is real merit in Cllr Connolly’s suggestion to examine the provision of the second bridge for traffic and to use the old one for pedestrian access,” said Cllr Fahy.

He warned that the city was fast facing into a ‘total traffic gridlock’ situation and added that the current system ‘just wasn’t working’.

Cllr Declan McDonnell described the lights at the Fleming’s Garage junction as ‘a disaster’ for cars coming in from the Tuam Road direction.

“I think that the sequencing of the lights at this junction has to be looked at – it can take up to an hour to get from McHugh’s on the outskirts of the city to this junction,” said Cllr McDonnell.

He also said that the traffic lights at Renmore and Mervue were not linked into the traffic control centre in City Hall and asked that all lights should be linked into this central point.