Motorway, outer bypass and rail link to be halted by new cuts

Date Published: 08-Jun-2011

Major infrastructural projects like the Gort to Tuam motorway, the Galway City Outer Bypass and the extension of the Western Rail Corridor are about to be shelved as tens of millions have been slashed from road and rail projects.

The Minister for Transport stated emphatically this week that there would be no new roads project carried out next year.

And it has also cast a cloud over the Claregalway bypass being constructed although a firm of consultants was recently employed by Galway County Council to progress this project to the compulsory purchase order stage.

With a whopping €150 million cut from the Government’s infrastructural budget this year, there is now no chance of any progress being made on the much needed Galway City Outer Bypass, which is currently immersed in a legal wrangle by objectors to the €350 million project.

This project was to be funded by the state, but Minister Leo Varadkar completely ruled out any roads project happening next year as he emphasised that savage cuts in spending had to be made.

With regards the Gort to Tuam motorway, around €120 million has already been spent on this scheme with the vast majority of this being on the acquisition of lands along the 57 kilometre route.

The consortium chosen to construct the motorway as part of a public private partnership agreement encountered difficulties raising the finance to construct the€500 million project and there were plans by the National Roads Authority to put it out to tender again.

And with €30 million slashed from the CIE budget, there is little chance of the Western Rail Corridor being extended to Tuam within the next few years – indeed, there is every possibility that some of the services between Galway and Limerick could be axed in the process.

Galway West TD Noel Grealish said that from meetings he attended with Minister Varadkar in recent weeks, it was apparent that no roads would be built in Galway for the next few years.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.