Galway City’s new look after lockdown

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – It will be a summer like no other in the city as radical plans are being drafted by a City Council team to clear the way for a return to ‘some type’ of normal activity.

A draft of the Council’s City Mobility Framework Plan – seen by the Galway City Tribune – outlines proposals for a greater emphasis on ‘pedestrian access and safety’ across the urban area.

Wider footpaths, the creation of safer cycling facilities, traffic restrictions, additional waiting space at bus stops and the support of businesses who need outdoor public spaces for social distancing, are all key elements of the draft plan.

The plan points out that while the measures being drafted are ‘short-term and temporary’, they will also offer the opportunity to ‘rethink the future of the city in a way that boosts quality of life, sustainability and opportunity into the medium to longer-term’.

It predicts that there will be a reluctance to use public transport (on health grounds), whose capacity will also be significantly reduced due to major traffic events associated with the Races and the Galway International Arts Festival not happening this summer.

City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath, told the Galway City Tribune, that the City Mobility Plan would be tackling a range of issues as and from next Monday as part of the local authority’s role in the phased re-opening of the country.

“I would give one obvious example of where we would have to look at a possible one-way traffic system. If there is a queue of people outside the post office on Eglinton Street on busy days like Friday for example, how can other pedestrians be catered for?

“Social distancing is going to be with us for quite some time, so in this case, if the two-metre space is to be maintained, then the extra pedestrian space can only be provided on the street,” said Mr McGrath.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. The full version contains extensive detail of the draft City Mobility Framework Plan. Please remember that without advertising revenue and people buying and subscribing to our newspapers, this website would not exist. You can buy a digital edition of this week’s Galway City Tribune HERE.