One-fifth of Galway’s road aren’t fit for traffic

Nearly one fifth of the county’s rural roads have been deemed unfit for regular traffic according to a report published by Galway County Council. 

Even worse, the overall state of the county’s roads has now deteriorated to the point that the repair bill is estimated at €246 million. But the local authority only has around one-tenth of that.

According to the report nearly 20 per cent of the county’s local roads are in an unacceptable condition – and there is very little money in the coffers to improve the situation.

It will cost nearly a quarter of a million euro to bring these roads to an acceptable standard alone, but the Council has just €24 million for road maintenance this year.

The vast majority of roads that are in an unacceptable state are located in the Connemara region as calls have been made for increased funding to be provided.

The survey of local roads was conducted by Galway County Council to determine their state and how best to allocate available funding.

It was discovered during the survey of the county’s local roads that almost 19% of them are not in an acceptable condition while more than 81% were deemed suitable for traffic.

The survey estimated that the total cost to rectify the deficiencies on these bad roads is €246 million but give the fact that the total funding currently available to the local authority for road maintenance is €24.2 million, it is obvious that many of these stretches will fall into a further state of deterioration.

And this doesn’t include major improvements, bridge repairs, traffic management or safety measure provisions.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.