Drop in Claregalway traffic falls short of expectations

The opening of the new Gort to Tuam motorway has taken just 4,000 cars away from Claregalway on a daily basis – although it was envisaged that the gridlocked village would have as many as 10,000 less vehicles travelling through it.

Traffic counts have revealed that motorists travelling between Tuam and Galway city are not opting for the motorway to the degree that was anticipated – and this is mainly down to the delays that are being experienced at the Coolough Roundabout near the Galway Clinic.

But on a more positive note, it seems that the motorway is the more preferred option for those exiting Galway city towards North Galway in the evenings, according to figures obtained by local Cllr James Charity.

Figures have shown that the number of cars that the motorway has taken away from Claregalway has fallen far short of expectations.

At the moment, there are on average 16,700 vehicular movements through the village since the motorway opened in September last year compared to 21,600 in 2016. This is not in accordance to what was anticipated by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

And it has also been learned that because the bottlenecks through Claregalway have intensified because of problems being experienced further in the old N17 towards the city, the rat runs through Cregmore have intensified.

Cllr James Charity, who represents the area, said that while some motorists were using the new Tuam to Gort motorway to access Galway city but it is not to the extent that was expected.

“When they were talking up the motorway, the impression was given that this would be the solution to all of Claregalway’s traffic woes when most people in the area knew full well at the time that this would not be the case.

“There was even talk of traffic calming measures being implemented for Claregalway in the aftermath of the motorway opening but the experts are most welcome to stand in the village any morning of the week to see for themselves how foolish that concept was,” he added.

During the height of the building boom, there were 30,000 daily traffic movements recorded through Claregalway on a daily basis but some motorists say that the tailbacks at the moment are just as bad as they were ten years ago with considerably less traffic.

A change in the sequencing of the lights at the Tuam Road junction in Galway, which certainly does not favour traffic approaching from the old N17, has resulted in traffic between Claregalway and the city being reduced to a crawl each weekday morning.

“It is a case of picking the lesser of two evils”, Cllr Charity added. “And while some are using the motorway, there are still a lot of motorists opting for Claregalway and, more worryingly, there seems to have been a huge increase in activity along the rat runs around Cregmore and other areas which cannot take such volumes of traffic”.

He is calling for the provision of additional public transport into Galway city and a look at other options besides the provision of mulitple sets of traffic lights as a means of trying to solve the traffic crisis that exists.

The independent councillor believes that in the absence of an outer city bypass, the possibility of fly-overs at some of the city’s notorious junctions (Tuam Road, Headford Road and at the Shopping Centre) be seriously considered.