Decision on bypass ‘within days’

Date Published: 10-Oct-2008

A DECISION could be announced within days on the 21 km outer bypass of the city — a road plan that is a key part of ridding Galway of its huge traffic snarl-ups, but is also one of the most controversial proposals to go before the planning authorities.

The Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Frank Fahey TD, confirmed this week that the planning decision on the €350 million development was with the board of An Bórd Pleanála,
which had held a planning hearing in the city earlier this year that ran for weeks.

He said that a decision was imminent on the bypass plan. It could be delivered within a matter of days, he understood.

There were up to 140 objectors to the plan for the road, which would swing in a giant arc from the east of the city and north of it to the Barna/Furbo area. It involves acquisition of 573 acres of farmland but, crucially, it has also run into major trouble with environmentalists.

Deputy Fahey said that it was likely any decision would be considered in Brussels because of the environmental impact on a Priority One Natural Habitat, but he hoped any consideration of the crucial project would be speedy because it involved the very future of the city.

At the planning hearing, the estimates were that the bypass, which involves thirteen new bridges — including a new bridge over the River Corrib — could take about one fifth of the traffic off city streets.
“This proposal…