Galway Race Committee fear traffic jams at new junction

Date Published: 07-Jul-2009

ORGANISERS of the Galway Races have expressed their concerns about the new Moneenageisha traffic junction in relation to traffic management during Race Week at the end of the month.
The Race Committee, in a letter to the City Manager, Joe MacGrath, and circulated to all city councillors, outlined their worries about the new junction not being able to accommodate large volumes of traffic.
John Maloney, Manager of the Galway Races, writing on behalf of the Race Committee, said “that particular junction would cause major traffic delays” and asking the City Council to put an alternative
plan into action.
“Our customers are going to encounter major delays travelling from Galway City to Ballybrit for Ireland’s major racing festival. At our traffic control meeting on June 16, concerns were expressed by various organisations that this junction would cause major delays in traffic travelling to Ballybrit and that the delays caused at this junction are also causing traffic congestion at the Joyce Roundabout
[Cemetery Cross], which are the two main arteries leading from the city to Ballybrit,” he added.
The Race Committee have asked the City Council if these traffic delays would be rectified prior to Race Week and they were assured by the Council that An Garda Siíochána would take control of the junction during busy periods.