Galway County Council in a jam over €1m road bill

Completion of the Gort to Tuam motorway will see maintenance of the existing N17 become the responsibility of Galway County Council – with fears that this could land the local authority with an annual bill of €1 million.

And that would mean other rural roads around the county suffering, as the Council maintains a stretch of road which will still be carrying around 20,000 vehicles a day.

At the moment the maintenance and repair of the N17 between Tuam and Galway is the responsibility of the National Roads Authority – but once the motorway is open, this road will be downgraded to a regional road.

This means that its upkeep becomes the responsibility of Galway County Council and officials have now estimated that this could take around €1 million from their roads budget.

And there is no guarantee that the Department of the Environment will compensate Galway County Council for this extra burden on their finances.

That is why Director of Services for Roads Liam Gavin has now written to the National Roads Authority – now known as Transport Infrastructure Ireland – asking that it remain a national road and its upkeep be funded by the exchequer.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.