News
Tuam bypass one year ahead of schedule
It now seems likely that the Tuam bypass will open before the middle of next year – around a year ahead of schedule…and before the completion of the motorway extension itself.
This has been denied by the main contractors who insist that the whole motorway and bypass will open at the one time in early 2018 – but local Cllr Donagh Killilea claims the plan is to open the Tuam bypass in early or mid-2017 to facilitate the provision of slip-roads and other infrastructural developments.
The Tuam bypass runs from the Galway Road (near the West Wing) to the Milltown Road and has become part of the main Gort to Tuam motorway project which is progressing well.
“What I am being told at the moment is that the Tuam bypass will be opened to facilitate the construction of various slip roads into the town. This would be a very welcome development.
“At the moment the town is choked with traffic and has been for the past few years so anything that would relieve this situation is to be welcomed,” Cllr Killilea added.
Work is progressing well on the Tuam bypass with the over-bridge at Kilcloghans completed and opened to traffic last week.
However, Cllr Killilea said that he was informed that the reason why the contractors didn’t want to open the Tuam bypass ahead of the overall project was because they wanted to do the final overlay of the whole scheme at the one time.
He said however that this situation had now changed.
And Cllr Killilea said that the inner relief road for Tuam – the subject of discussion several years ago – was still not off the agenda and would prove a vital piece of infrastructure even in the event of the motorway being provided.
At one stage it was proposed to provide an inner relief road from Bishop Street, along the Curragh River and out onto the Dublin Road.
“This has not come off the table,” Cllr Killilea remarked.
But as regards the motorway and Tuam bypass, they will be opened on the one day in early 2018 or earlier if the weather is kind.
Declan Carney representing Sisk, one of the main contractors, told The Connacht Tribune that nothing has changed to the original plan.
“The full project, including the Tuam bypass, will be opening at the same time. The targeted completion in early 2018 also remains the same,” he said.
Construction on the Gort to Tuam motorway and Tuam bypass commenced early last year and a consortium known as Direct Route (Sisk, Lagan and Roadbridge Construction) were appointed to complete the project.
While there has been traffic disruption along the 57 kilometre route, it has been kept to a minimum.
The heavy winter rains did cause some disruption with the motorway being blamed for some of the flooding in south and north Galway but this has been denied by senior Council officials.
The M17/M18 is costing in the region of €550 million and when completed, it will provide a motorway from Tuam all the way to Limerick city.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
