Vote next week on new 30km/h Galway city centre speed limit

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Councillors will vote next Monday on a raft of proposed changes to speed limits in the city – including a 30km/h zone for the city centre.

However, concerns were raised this week that in order to secure the city centre changes, councillors will also have to give their seal of approval to increasing limits on a number of approach roads.

Green Party councillor Niall Murphy described it as a “tricky” position for local representatives who favoured the 30km/h zone, but were against the proposed increases, including an increase on the Tuam Road north of Castlegar NS from 50km/h to 100km/h.

“On the Moycullen Road, they propose to increase the speed from 50km/h to 60 km/h for a 1.4km stretch from Circular Road to the entrance of Glenlo Abbey. This change means that the cars will travel faster as they pass many residential entrances and a church, on a road with no bike lane.

“The speed limit will gain about 17 seconds on the motorists’ journey. Is it reasonable to compromise safety for such a marginal time saving? And the total journey time may be less for inbound traffic since this faster traffic will build a longer queue at the lights at Dangan,” said Cllr Murphy.

The increases proposed will also result in increased limits – from 50km/h to 80km/h – on Bóthar na dTreabh (N6) from the Menlo Park roundabout to the Tuam Road junction; and part of the Rahoon Road, which includes the section passing Buaile Beag National School.

Car traffic on Quincentenary Bridge will also have an increased limit, from 50 to 60km/h, as will the inbound section of the Dublin Road from Galway Crystal as far as the entrance to Merlin Hospital.
This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.