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N17 Claregalway Inner Relief Road

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  • 29-05-2009 9:51pm
    #1
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭


    Decided to post this in a new thread as the other one is now a (well deserved) Frank Fahey slagging marathon.

    A tender has appeared for getting a company to create an EIS for the Claregalway Inner Relief Road.

    For those that dont know, the M17 will (eventually) run from Athenry to Tuam, and will be built as part of the M17/18 Gort to Tuam PPP. Earliest this will start is late 2010. It wont solve the Claregalway problem.

    THIS scheme is the Inner Relief Road, a collection of 5 roundabouts that will serve to bypass the town and provide access for developers to build new estates.

    No idea on construction yet, but whats interesting is it is being referred to as the N17 Claregalway Inner Relief Road. That means that its still under the NRAs authority, even though the docs I have refer to Galway Co Co. In any case, its probably just a naming convention as this probably wont be started till the M17 is being built.

    Heres a pic ->

    claregalway.gif

    I marked the N17/18 in black BTW.

    Heres the tender notice ->
    Galway County Council wishes to invite tenders from suitably qualified and experienced consultants to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment for two schemes in Baile Chlair:

    Scheme A: N17 Baile Chlair Inner Relief Road

    Scheme B: Pedestrian Bridge over River Clare
    Environmental Impact Assessment Consultancy Services

    All services necessary or desirable for purposeful delivery of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as per Phase 4 of the National Roads Project Management Guidelines for two schemes in Baile Chláir (Claregalway)located in the County Galway Gaeltacht.

    Scheme A: N17 Baile Chláir Inner Relief Road
    The emerging preferred route has been established and is approximately 5.1km long.

    Scheme B: Pedestrian Bridge over River Clare
    An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) shall be prepared in both the English and Irish languages with regard to best practice Guideline Documents on EIA/EIS produced by the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Environmental Protection Agency and National Roads Authority. The services shall include but are not limited to the assessment (including surveys and specialist surveys) of the preferred route corridor & alternative alignments for scheme A, assessment of scheme B and alternatives and for both schemes the preparation of the ecology section of Preliminary Design Report, the EIS and contribution in relation to CPO and EIS Public Hearings.

    Tenders in sealed envelopes in the format outlined in the "Instructions for Tendering" shall be received by the County Secretary, Galway County Council, Aras an Chontae, Prospect Hill, Galway on or before 4.00pm on Tuesday 30th June, 2009.

    http://www.e-tenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY118743

    cSAC is candidate for Special Area of Conservation isnt it??


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    #2
    galwayrush
    Registered Users Posts: 12,815 ✭✭✭✭galwayrush


    Saw that map before, definitely a developers dream. I reckon we need a dual carriageway from at least Loughgeorge to run perhaps behind Hughe's shop direction, cheap boggy land.


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    #3
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Thanks for this Chris .

    Claregalway is a disgrace. There has been talk of a bypass for perhaps as many as 40 years now, and still nothing has been done. :( The road will continue to carry at least 10000 cars a day even in the ( to my mind) rather unlikely event that a motorway is ever built further east .

    The Claregalway Bypass is in the FF and Green Programme for Government as a deliverable over the lifetime of the current government , see page 16 and is also allegedly supported by Noel Grealish .

    If this fails to be built Frank Fahey deserves a lot of the blame. Frank spent a lot of time in 2008 claiming that the motorway to the east would bypass Claregalway and he refused to discuss or lobby for this specific road. Frank is not over concerned with programmes for government .

    However the delivery of a Programme for Government is the responsibility of the Cabinet and therefore Eamonn O Cuiv will be equally responsible if this road is not open by this time in 2012 when the term of this government ends .

    It is also important that Noel Treacy and Michael Kitt are blamed in proportion to Fahey and O Cuiv . They are both sitting FF TDs for Galway East and are supporters of the same programme for government albeit not responsible for delivery to the same extent as O Cuiv and Fahey ( Chairman of the Transport Committee)

    Sadly the effective lobby that was evident in Claregalway appears to have disbanded . They would be well advised to reform and to re-energise and to relentlessly pressurise all those named suspects for the delivery of this vital road .


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    #4
    galwayrush
    Registered Users Posts: 12,815 ✭✭✭✭galwayrush


    Well put Sponge Bob, i fear vested \ self intrests is what drives FF not the common good.:(


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    #5
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Chris also referred to 'another' thread , one which was largely there to track non progress in 2008 . That thread is here


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    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,121 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Cool. Two too many roundabouts.

    Why aren't they continuing the road on the Tuam side to link in with the N63 Roscommon road?


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    #7
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Dunno , however the existing road could/should become a one way northbound in the village and southbound could go around the houses on the bypass . All the shops/chippers/pubs etc are on the correct side of the road for such a system

    I thought it would start north of melotte motors, across the N63 and south behind the county GAA training grounds to the bottom right roundabout on Chris's map .


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    #8
    mayoimafriad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭mayoimafriad


    yes, far 2 many roundabouts, i dont see the reasoning for the 2nd and 4th roundabout(if your coming from galway)! 5 roundabouts will frustrate motorists and i think during non peak times, they would continue on thru the village instead of using the relief road, basically defeating the purpose of the road!

    i have a question, WHY IS GALWAY COUNTY SO SLOW IN BYPASSING TOWNS?????
    E.g CLAREGALWAY, Tuam, Gort, Ballinasloe & many villages Clarinbridge etc.

    Like Galways 3 N roads N6, N17, N18 are all such busy roads.

    Take Mayo for example, towns in the county were bypassed years ago, towns with relatively low traffic volumes, e.g Swinford, N5, was bypassed 16 years ago, back in 1993 and i dont know traffic counts for back then but going on what they are at present (8,000 tops) they must have being no more than 5,000 at the time (1993).

    Claremorris bypassed in 2001, a town which the N17 once passed thru, similar to Claregalway, the only big differnce is...the traffic volumes for Claregalway over 25,000, Claremorris traffic vol 9,000 est!

    can someone please explain this? cheers!


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    #9
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    Because its a national road (eg: N17) and as such comes under the ruling of the NRA and hence the government, not Galway Co Co. The government respond to vested interests, and Galway Co Co can scream and yell as much as they want; if a project isnt politcally desirable in some way, it wont be done. Thats whats happened. Claregalway has a tiny population, so there is no weighty lobby, and isnt on a road connecting Dublin to somewhere, so has been ignored.

    Adare is exactly the same.


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    #10
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    mayoimafriad wrote: »
    can someone please explain this? cheers!

    Frank Fahey is not a TD for Claremorris ....lucky bastards :p

    Claregalway is a disaster that blocks up everywhere between Cork and Derry , even with a Motorway 27000 people enter Galway to work every day of whom very many travel through Claregalway , then there are 1000s of students too.


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    #11
    mayoimafriad
    Closed Accounts Posts: 23 ✭mayoimafriad


    hmm seems very unfair! the West has being neglected, thats for sure! thousands of commuters from Mayo pass thru Claregalway everyday! its ridiculous at his stage! i dunno how the villagers put up with it every single day! I think the reason Claregalway is so bad is because of the N18, if it was just the N17 passing thru, traffic congestion wouldn't be a problem i'd say! if they even built the shortest stretch of road of the N18 swinging it from its existing junction in the village to a junction north of the village! thought martin cullen when he visited Claregalway a few years back promised a bypass, why the change?


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    #12
    KevR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    Those roundabouts are a joke but I'm not at all surprised given that this is Galway we're talking about...


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    #13
    westtip
    Registered Users Posts: 4,282 ✭✭✭westtip


    mayoimafriad wrote: »
    thought martin cullen when he visited Claregalway a few years back promised a bypass, why the change?

    Explains a lot! Martin "E-voting" Cullen was (is) a bag of wind who has promised many things in his career and delivered on very little - however I do feel for ye all who travel through this bottleneck everyday - was in Shannon this morning dropping off someone for an early flight - driving north through CG at about 8.30 am the tail back south into Galway was pretty horrendous - well beyond the N63 junction - mind you it was a wheeze going south at 5.30 am so maybe ye should all work flexitime.


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    #14
    dubhthach
    Registered Users Posts: 3,284 ✭✭✭dubhthach


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    Thanks for this Chris .

    Claregalway is a disgrace. There has been talk of a bypass for perhaps as many as 40 years now, and still nothing has been done. :( The road will continue to carry at least 10000 cars a day even in the ( to my mind) rather unlikely event that a motorway is ever built further east .

    This basically follows one of the route selections that was put forwarded over 10years ago (I recall the maps on display in the city library). Of course that's fairly standard for road development in Galway, my father was involved in designing a bypass of Moycullen in early 70's (72-73 I think?) of course it never got built and Moycullen is still without a bypass.

    Plus ca change!


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    #15
    KevR
    Registered Users Posts: 3,110 ✭✭✭KevR


    This road with all those roundabouts won't solve the traffic problem, it will just move it outside the town and maybe make it worse in a way.

    I don't travel through Claregalway a lot but am I right in saying that it's just a single set of traffic lights (at the N17/N18 junction) causes all the problems.

    How will replacing one traffic light junction with 5 roundabouts eleviate congestion? There will be constant queues at every roundabout.


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    #16
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    galwayrush wrote: »
    Saw that map before, definitely a developers dream. I reckon we need a dual carriageway from at least Loughgeorge to run perhaps behind Hughe's shop direction, cheap boggy land.
    Boggy land may be cheap but building a road across a bog is definitely not. Piles and plenty of them, must be driven to provide a stable foundation.


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    #17
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,121 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    murphaph wrote: »
    Boggy land may be cheap but building a road across a bog is definitely not. Piles and plenty of them, must be driven to provide a stable foundation.
    Yes the original plan 10 or more years ago gave two options on either side of the current N17 it was one on the east side that was picked as although the land would probably be more expensive to buy it would be cheaper to build and there would be easier links to the N18 and N63.


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    #18
    westtip
    Registered Users Posts: 4,282 ✭✭✭westtip


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    Thanks for this Chris .


    The Claregalway Bypass is in the FF and Green Programme for Government as a deliverable over the lifetime of the current government , see page 16 and is also allegedly supported by Noel Grealish .

    .

    Written by who Hans Christen Anderson! I quote from this fairytale documents:

    Roads
    The development of a high-quality route network will deliver significant benefits for our competitiveness,
    balanced regional development and the safety of our roads. This Government will complete:
    • The five inter-urban motorways connecting Dublin to Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.
    • The Atlantic Road Corridor connecting Letterkenny and Waterford through Sligo, Charlestown, Tuam,
    Galway, Gort, Ennis, Limerick, Mallow and Cork to motorway standard.
    • The Border Road Corridor connecting Dundalk to Sligo via Enniskillen.
    • High quality road corridors to the Border, the North West and the West connecting Mullingar and
    Westport/Ballina/Sligo, Kells and Belturbet, as well as Ardee and Monaghan.
    • The Eastcoast N11 dual carriageway to Rosslare.
    • The Dublin to Letterkenny/Derry dual carriageway.
    • Preparations for the delivery of the Leinster Outer Orbital Route.
    • Bypassing of the traffic blackspot of Claregalway by 2012.
    Once this essential network is completed, the primary task of the National Roads Authority will turn to
    maintenance of the network. - and all those moaning minnies on boards.ie can hang up their keyboards

    Sure won't it be great to have all this done by 2012!!!! I find if I need to go through Claregalway in the morning heading south along the N17 - it saves about an hour to work away to the East down the various rat runs to "bypass" both Claregalway and Oranmore popping out on the N18 around Clarinbridge.

    I have learnt you can't safely drive down a .pdf file published on a government website.


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    #19
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    Hey my thread moved :D


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    #20
    biko
    Registered Users Posts: 81,223 ✭✭✭✭biko


    Yeah, really an infrastructure thread imo.
    Feel free to start a thread in GC once construction is under way and will have a direct impact on commuters to the city.


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    #21
    mysterious
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,133 ✭✭✭mysterious


    That bypass is just hideous

    They really should build a relief around the town that is fairly close since the N17 will be diverted through the new M17, its perfectly acceptable to build a smaller C shape road with three roundabouts. The road in the town should be narrowed and more pedestrian/cyclist oreinteated to further divert traffic to use the bypass.

    That bypass is too far out and designed for urban sprawl not to remove traffic from the village.

    :rolleyes: I'm telling you, this ****e does not happen in other countries, Irish politicians are so corrupt it makes me sick that they actually enjoy making an arse out of our roads. Like how ****ing hard is it to just design a bypass.

    I think its harder to design a bypass like this one, than actually just build a proper one.

    Good god, knobs the council are.


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    #22
    D.L.R.
    Registered Users Posts: 1,284 ✭✭✭D.L.R.


    If ths gets built, then what service will the M17 be providing? There's a two-in-one solution in there somewhere...


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    #23
    Tech3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,010 ✭✭✭Tech3


    What is the land topoligy like on the headford side of Claregalway? Makes more sense to have it on that direction and also have 2 dumbell junctions instead of plonking roundabouts to every estate in the village.


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    #24
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,337 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    galwayrush wrote: »
    cheap boggy land.
    cheap boggy land = expensive construction


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    #25
    rekrow
    Closed Accounts Posts: 78 ✭✭rekrow


    mysterious wrote: »
    That bypass is just hideous

    They really should build a relief around the town that is fairly close since the N17 will be diverted through the new M17, its perfectly acceptable to build a smaller C shape road with three roundabouts. The road in the town should be narrowed and more pedestrian/cyclist oreinteated to further divert traffic to use the bypass.

    That bypass is too far out and designed for urban sprawl not to remove traffic from the village.

    :rolleyes: I'm telling you, this ****e does not happen in other countries, Irish politicians are so corrupt it makes me sick that they actually enjoy making an arse out of our roads. Like how ****ing hard is it to just design a bypass.

    I think its harder to design a bypass like this one, than actually just build a proper one.

    Good god, knobs the council are.

    A couple of things to consider on this. The map that this is drawn on is fairly out of date. There are 3 housing estates built along the N18 since it was drawn There is also an industrial park built on the N18. To facilitate building it closer to the N17 would involve knocking down houses. A major bone of contention for many of the residents in the village is the proximity of large volumes of fast moving traffic close to where they live. If the route was just kept to the immediate outskirts of the village it's purpose would be diminished. Also thanks to the great waste of money that is the QBC I think Claregalway must break the record held by Moate for many years as the longest stretch of 50 kmph national route (not certain but definitely must be in the top 10). As for DLR's comment about the new M17, the route selected has baffled me and many observers for sometime. Traffic counters show that the majority of the traffic burden exists in the immediate CG area. Both Kinnegad and Enfield also had relief roads built prior to full blown motorways. There are also plans (for the last 5-10 years) to build a waste water treatment plant for the village. If this goes ahead without the relief road being in place there will be chaos altogether.


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    #26
    westtip
    Registered Users Posts: 4,282 ✭✭✭westtip


    rekrow wrote: »
    Both Kinnegad and Enfield also had relief roads built prior to full blown motorways. There are also plans (for the last 5-10 years) to build a waste water treatment plant for the village. If this goes ahead without the relief road being in place there will be chaos altogether.

    Exactly - a "mini" relief road similiar to Enfield and Kinnegad should have been built five (or even ten) years ago - I mean just get on with it, do it and then build the motorway, the fact you can slip round Enfield a prior bottleneck has made no difference to the usage of the tolled road on the M4, but it made a huge difference to the lives of those living in Enfield for 3 or 4 years prior to the motorway opening and to those of us sitting in the queues either side of of the town - The mini bypass has opened up backlands of the town which may be opened up for residential and commercial use in future years when (if) things pick up, (Mind you a roundabout rather than traffic lights half way round may have encouraged more to use it!) The whole process just takes so long, is so annoying and the idiots we have as Councillors, TDs, and civil servants in planning just don't gettit. I mean just get on with it, in every other country this would just have been done eons ago.

    Anyway as quoted above no need to worry lads only three years to go according to the programme for government quoted above in previous comments.

    • Bypassing of the traffic blackspot of Claregalway by 2012. (The Claregalway Bypass is in the FF and Green Programme for Government as a deliverable over the lifetime of the current government , see page 16 and is also allegedly supported by Noel Grealish)

    BTW there is not a mention of the relief road to come prior to the motorway on the NRA website...so there you go folks - election over so now they can all go back to sleep after filling in their expense forms, cos nothing is going to happen....Not with this government and probably not with the next...


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    #27
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    FWIW this has been revised a little, the southern end has been brought a little closer to the town to avoid some limestone. That has resulted in two roundabouts being removed.

    Its a bit better.


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    #28
    mysterious
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,133 ✭✭✭mysterious


    Chris_533976 wrote: »
    FWIW this has been revised a little, the southern end has been brought a little closer to the town to avoid some limestone. That has resulted in two roundabouts being removed.

    Its a bit better.


    Thats good, it only needs to be an "inner relief road" The old layout seemed a bif gaf! if anything it wouldn't solve congestion in the town, because the bypass goes way off the maline plus the fact that it's riddled with ROs, so I don't think it would work at all.

    But this is positive.

    Its seems the planners are on this site all the time reading our opinions. I dont need to email NRA, they are on here:D

    woo woo


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    #29
    veryangryman
    Registered Users Posts: 5,547 ✭✭✭veryangryman


    westtip wrote: »
    Exactly - a "mini" relief road similiar to Enfield and Kinnegad should have been built five (or even ten) years ago - I mean just get on with it, do it and then build the motorway, the fact you can slip round Enfield a prior bottleneck has made no difference to the usage of the tolled road on the M4, but it made a huge difference to the lives of those living in Enfield for 3 or 4 years prior to the motorway opening and to those of us sitting in the queues either side of of the town - The mini bypass has opened up backlands of the town which may be opened up for residential and commercial use in future years when (if) things pick up, (Mind you a roundabout rather than traffic lights half way round may have encouraged more to use it!)


    As a proud toll dodger, i do ignore Enfields bypass for those very reasons. Also the distance involved in using the thing. I mean how hard is it to build a bloody roudabout. Id sooner take my chances in the town where with a bit of luck, you can bomb through the lights and be out of there in 30 seconds.

    Obviously the existing bypass, motorway and road signs made all of this possible of course :pac:


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    #30
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    This EIS will not be completed and translated until well into 2010 ( it is a gaeltacht area) . The translation of the N6 Galway Bypass EIS took 6 months and the road route and EIS in the gaeltacht part of the N6 Galway Bypass has to be redone even if the court case next week gives the remaining section the go ahead.

    It is not possible for the construction of this road to be funded before 2011 unless there is a €20m contingency in the 2010 road transport budget for it to enable a start.

    Therefore in order to deliver it within the lifetime of the government it must be funded in 2010 and all the politicians I named early in this article must be lobbied and pressurised this year .


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    #31
    Chris_533976
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,082 ✭✭✭Chris_533976


    FWIW (little) this is still being pedelled as the N17 Claregalway Relief Road. Thats critical. That means it comes under NRA related funding. If the M17 gets built first and the current N17 gets reverted back to an R road, then it comes under LOCAL AUTHORITY funding, NOT NRA releated funding.

    If they can get this done fast, then its an NRA project. If it delays, its a Galway Co Council project. And they've cut back themselves (Seamus Quirke road dualling canned).


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