Councils combine to tackle Parkmore traffic

Galway County Council this week agreed to join forces with Galway City Council to carry out improvement works at Parkmore Junction on the Tuam Road – currently a source of daily frustration for thousands of workers and commuters.

The City Council has already agreed as the lands involve areas in both the city and county making it a joint project.

Councillor Jim Cuddy accepted its urgency at Monday’s Council meeting but wondered why one Local Authority was funding it (the city Council) and another carrying out the work (the county Council).

Liam Gavin, Director of Services for Roads and Transportation, explained that this was necessary as the road from the Tuam Road to the roundabout at the entrance of Parkmore Industrial Estate and onwards towards Briarhill was involved if safety measures such as traffic lights and new junctions were to be installed for easier flow of traffic — up to 8,000 cars leave the Parkmore Industrial Estate every evening at the same time leaving motorists up to an hour in a traffic jam.

The project is only at the design stage which will take months to complete and has already cost €100,000. The city Council has already discussed temporary solutions in the meantime such is the urgency of the situation. A number of meetings have already taken place between both local authorities, the IDA and management of some of the large companies based in Parkmore.

Councillors agreed that the Council enter into an agreement with their city colleagues to ensure the project, which is being funded by the NRA, gets underway as soon as possible. This agreement will involve land acquisition, CPOs, the appointment and engagement of contractors and the recoupment of the cost of the scheme.

Monday’s Council meeting also heard that Galway County Council has been allocated €6million in the first tranche of the Department of the Environment’s severe weather allocations. The Council had submitted a request for €9.8million for projects involving road repairs arising out of the recent weather damage.

The allocation amounts to 60% of funds needed to carry out all necessary repairs according to Liam Gavin, Director of Services for Roads and Transportation.

And while it was generally welcomed by councillors around the chamber, councillors representing South Galway, the worst hit area during recent flooding, pointed out that something drastic had to be done — such as digging a channel at Carnmore — to ensure that area wouldn’t be as prone to flooding in the future.

And while a Bord Pleanala decision was pending last week on the Dunkellin River Relief Scheme which is expected to address the flood plain issues, the €6million has to be used on bringing the road network damaged by flooding up to standard and not on any capital project associated with the prevention of future flooding.