Council warns of chaos if roundabout not removed

Date Published: 09-Apr-2012

BY ENDA CUNNINGHAM

Galway’s Traffic Management Plan will collapse unless councillors make a “unpopular” decision to remove the Kirwan Roundabout near the Menlo Park Hotel on the Headford Road, the City Council’s Head of Transportation as warned.

It comes as a ‘Plan B’ for the junction was met with an angry reaction from businesses in Liosban Retail Park and on Sandy Road.

Ciarán Hayes told the Connacht Sentinel there will be traffic chaos on the city unless the roundabout is removed, and admitted that councillors will have an “unpopular” decision to make in the coming weeks.

This week, the Council will be meeting with local residents in the Menlo area to outline their finalised proposals for the new junction.

But already, an alternative plan – which would see the Sandy Road/Liosban access road closed and a new road created from Liosban onto the N6 (Bothar na dTreadbh) – has met with huge opposition with local businesses, who have warned of job losses.

Three weeks ago, the Council abandoned its plans to remove the roundabout after huge opposition from local residents concerned over access to the Menlo area from the new signalised junction.

And last Thursday, Mr Hayes and Senior Engineers from the Galway Transportation Unit met with business interests in the area.

“If we don’t get approval for the changeover, yes, it will be a major stumbling block. It causes us very serious problems. In the plan, all signalised junctions will be connected to the Traffic Management Centre at City Hall – if there is a roundabout in the middle of it, we cannot control traffic flow.”

He added: “The Council will have to make a hard decision. We are reviewing the plans for removing the roundabout, and it is imperative to remove one of the legs coming into the junction.

“The [finalised] plan will be presented to the residents’ associations and local area councillors [this] week to provide information on what is going to happen and to deal with misinformation. No matter what, it’s going to be an unpopular decision.

“Whatever option you choose, some sector is not going to be happy, but this is a major component of the city’s traffic plan. Without a signalised junction there, there will be ongoing congestion,” said Mr Hayes.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel