Council to decide on plans to remove Galway Clinic roundabout

Plans to remove the Martin Roundabout at Galway Clinic will take a step forward this year – with funding secured and an application for permission to proceed to City Council within six months.

The project, which will transform the roundabout into a fully signalised junction, was granted €2.7 million in funding under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund – and Council engineers are hoping to have broken ground on the new junction by the end of 2019.

Senior Executive Engineer with Galway City Council Uinsinn Finn told councillors that despite securing funding, they were currently at the initial assessment stage – and that any planning application would be “premature”.

“Consultants have been appointed and we envisage that a Part 8 [planning permission application] will come before the Council in June,” said Mr Finn adding that the Council would not need to acquire any lands to change the junction and so the process should be “relatively straightforward”.

The works will include the provision of pedestrian and cyclist-crossing facilities – with footpaths on the Dublin road currently not extending beyond the junction for Doughiska and Roscam.

The purpose of the upgrade is to provide primary access to the southern section of what will become the city’s newest suburb – Ardaun.

According to the Council, the new junction “will provide safer and more convenient public transport access and pedestrian and cyclist crossing facilities into Ardaun lands”.

Bus priority measures will be introduced on the Dublin Road as far as the Doughiska junction and a bus lane will extend as far as the new junction – with transponders to be put on busses which will trigger the lights, giving public transport priority over individual vehicles.

An application was lodged for the Martin Roundabout upgrade as it was deemed “shovel ready” by engineers, and having been granted, the upgraded junction will pave the way for the progression of Ardaun, according to Mr Finn.

“This is vital in terms of Ardaun and the success is to be able to provide transport into the area,” he said.

Ardaun has been identified in the Rebuilding Ireland plan as a “Major Urban Housing Deliver Site” – and with its proximity to employment hubs east of the city, planners believe it is well positioned to serve the housing needs of the city in the short to medium term.

However, Galway City Council owns just half of the 164 hectares of greenfield lands available – with the County Council in ownership of the rest.

Cllr Declan McDonnell (Ind) called on the County Council to hand over the land they held and allow the city to progress with the development – with its first phase of construction due to deliver almost 3,000 houses.