Council say lights ‘syncing’ will end Quirke Road traffic jams

Date Published: 18-Jun-2012

By Dara Bradley

Galway City Council has insisted that the traffic lights along the new stretch of the Seamus Quirke Road and Bishop O’Donnell Road will be ‘synced’ later today, avoiding the long tailbacks through Westside that prevailed over the weekend.

The local authority was again sharply criticised for the Seamus Quirke Road project because the new traffic lights installed along the mile stretch of the new carriageway were not yet synchronised, bringing traffic in the Westside to a ‘standstill’ on Saturday and Sunday.

City Councillor Pádraig Conneely (FG), said there was “traffic chaos” in Westside over the weekend and yesterday and he described the long tailbacks up to the Browne roundabout as “another cock-up” on the part of the City Council, the promoters of the project.

“The new Seamus Quirke Road, promoted by Galway City Council, which could cost the taxpayer up to €20 million, was more like a car park than a road on Saturday and Sunday. This is another major cock-up, and the management of the Council must be held responsible and accountable for their failure to manage the project,” he said.

Cllr Conneely said the new lights were an “abject failure” over the weekend, which “left motorists outraged that a project that could cost almost €20 million failed to deliver any comfort to drivers.”

Cllr Conneely said the Department of Transport must hold officials in the Council responsible for “mismanagement” of the project.

Last Friday marked the ninth deadline that was passed without the road being completed. It was due to be finished last September but has encountered a series of difficulties since that delayed the project. The cost has risen from an estimated €10 million to €16 million now but the final figure could be closer to €20 million, according to Cllr Conneely.

A Council spokesperson yesterday said: “All of the work on the Bishop O’Donnell/Seamus Quirke Road will be completed within the next week”.

There is just a small bit of resurfacing to do from Deane Roundabout at Fort Lorenzo, down the Bishop O’Donnell Road, which will be completed by lunchtime next Monday. It was delayed due to wet weather and also because of problems with fibre optic cables underneath.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.