Plan for new vehicles-only bridge at the Salmon Weir

Date Published: 07-Apr-2011

By Denise McNamara

A proposal to build a second bridge alongside the Salmon Weir Bridge to carry vehicles only is one of the options that will be presented to councillors at next Monday’s meeting of Galway City Council.

A presentation by the consultants RPS will indicate a number of options to alleviate the pressure on the Salmon Weir Bridge, which has heavy pedestrian usage on very narrow footpaths, with buses and trucks regularly forced to mount them because of the difficulty in making the sharp turn.

If the option for the second bridge is favoured, the existing bridge would then cater specifically for cyclists and pedestrian.

Councillors will be asked to agree on one of the options at Monday’s meeting. The consultants will then work on a detailed plan for the preferred option, which will then be presented to the councillors to formally begin the planning process.

A Public Transport Feasibility Study previously recommended a Bus Rapid Transit system for the city – including ‘bus only’ lanes on the bridge.

This put on hold plans which had been on the cards to remove the footpaths on the bridge and install one or two pedestrian footbridges. This followed a 2006 study after which consultants were engaged to begin designing the footbridges.

Anglers have already criticised any plan to build a second bridge at the location, which they say would straddle one of the richest salmon holes along the Corrib.

The Galway Diocese also objected to any proposed bridge as it would involve a compulsory purchase of Diocesan.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.