Galway drivers unhappy with the city’s big road changes

 Deep dissatisfaction with the changeover of city roundabouts to signalised junctions and the new layout of the Seamus Quirke Road (SQR) were the main findings of a comprehensive survey of Galway commuters which was published yesterday.

 The ‘Better Transport for Galway’ survey, carried out early this year, found that half of the 400 respondents were unhappy with the new layout of the SQR, with many using ‘rat runs’ or alternative routes through residential areas to avoid it each day.

One-third of respondents claimed that their daily commute had worsened over the previous 12 months, despite significant modifications to the flow of traffic in the city and the opening of the new Urban Traffic Management Centre last year.

Many respondents expressed dismay that the revamped SQR, completed last year, gave such priority to buses when there were so few on the route at peak times. Motorists felt that travel times for cars had not improved, despite the considerable cost of the SQR revamp to the city.

“About 50% of responders have a negative view of the refurbishment,” said the authors of the report. “It is likely that this negative sentiment is due to delays that can still be experienced on a regular basis and the frustration due to the very lightly used bus lanes.”

A considerable number of people also expressed dissatisfaction with the layout of the former Briarhill roundabout on the east side of the city, claiming that the layout of the junction needed to be changed as a matter of urgency.

The survey, which came from an initiative from Senator Hildegarde Naughton (FG) during her term as Mayor of Galway in 2011-12, received a high level of response from the general public as well as specific interest groups such as taxi drivers, bus drivers, and public transport users.

The final report from the survey calls for greater priority to be given to through-traffic and for more buses on the SQR, for the junctions at Briarhill and Parkmore to be reassessed “as a matter of urgency”, and for initiatives to make public transport and cycling more attractive for city commuters.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel