City bypass delays leave rival projects in fast lane

Date Published: 29-May-2009

OVER €1.4 billion is currently being spent on the Limerick City Tunnel and the Waterford Bypass at a time when the Galway City Bypass is still caught up in a jam of local objections, a former Fianna Fáil Minister said this week.
West Galway Fianna Fáil TD, Frank Fahey, told the Galway City Tribune that cities like Limerick and Waterford had risen above any internal wrangles or rows to ensure that their bypass projects went ahead.
He said that on a recent visit to Limerick he witnessed at first hand the real progress being made on their €810 million tunnel while the €650 million Waterford Bypass was also in the course of being built.
Deputy Fahey said that in Limerick, planning issues had arisen in relation to a Special Area of Conservation, but a compromise had been reached and the problem was overcome in the interest of the common good.
He called on the people of Galway to make the upcoming local elections a referendum on the City Outer Bypass as it was the single most important infrastructural project in the Galway region – one of the main reasons it was stalled was because of several city councillors opposing the project.