Motorists avoiding toll on Galway-Ballinasloe motorway

Two thirds of motorists using the motorway between Galway and Ballinasloe are still veering off to avoid the toll plaza in Cappataggle.

It is understood that heavy vehicles in particular are avoiding the toll plaza because they are obviously being charged much more than private vehicles.

The AA is totally opposed to toll charges on motorways and in recent years they conducted a survey which had damning results. Motorists said that they would be willing to divert away from toll plazas because of the charges being applied.

Late last week The Connacht Tribune monitored ‘the escape route’ for the Cappataggle toll plaza and found that a phenomenal number of heavy vehicles turn off in advance of this.

The motorway was designed to ease heavy traffic between Loughrea and Ballinasloe but there are still a lot of drivers using the old N6 route to avoid the toll.

Workers from Ballinasloe working in Oranmore and Galway city are avoiding the toll because it saves them over €1,000 a year in charges. To pass through the toll in Cappataggle, it costs €1.90 for an ordinary car but it is much dearer for heavier vehicles.

The NRA and the Government have come under pressure from the operators of the toll plaza at Cappataggle to approve the tolling of slip roads so as to force motorists to use the motorway.

However, they have been told in no uncertain terms that there will be no additional tolls and it was up to themselves to try and address the situation.

It seems that there are 6,000 vehicles less than anticipated using the toll, which costs €1.90 for cars and more for larger trucks and lorries.

A spokesperson for the National Roads Authority told The Connacht Tribune that there would be no new tolls on the M6 motorway. This is despite requests from the company that operates the existing toll plaza, N6 Concessions, which is made up of two Spanish firms and one from this country.

At the moment motorists in their droves are leaving the motorway and joining the Loughrea bypass and continuing on the old N6 to Ballinasloe where they are then rejoining the motorway again.  It is all to do with the level of the charges being imposed at the toll plaza.

There have been fears that a number of jobs are at risk at the toll plaza because of the fact that motorists are avoiding paying the charge.