M6 - Galway City Ring Road [planning decision pending]

In all honesty, almost everyone I know "just wants this project done" but also knows almost nothing about traffic modelling or the design. They just know that "it will fix the traffic problem". Some know that they "need another bridge" and that they "need another way across the city".

Most people aren't infrastructure or transport nerds like we are on here, they just want to get to work and get home, drop their kids to school etc. They're being told by politicians that "this road is the solution", and why would they not trust that?

We had around 2-ish years before "Dunkettle Interchange is the transport solution" shifted to "we need holistic solutions". So who knows, maybe one big transport infrastructure project which doesn't miraculously solve all problems (and butter people's toast) might be what Galway needs.

I don't work in the council. Why not reach out to them. They get paid to sort this stuff out. GCC from what I can see are totally incompetent.

This ring road is being talked about for 25 years. If it won't help with congestion then build an alternative solution (rail, dedicated bus routes on all routes etc ).

This is a typical public service scenario of kicking things down the road, and it moves at snails pace.

You're kind of on the same page as the rest of us then to be honest. They're effectively saying mode share improvement projects won't be considered until this road is done. But this project is failing to be approved exactly BECAUSE it doesn't consider the mode share. It's very very frustrating.

The project team know what needs to be done, and even if they just want to build this road as a vanity project, their best route to do it would be to couple it with some sops to other transport modes.

Yep I'm surprised at how he's framing that to be honest (his point was when the tunnel shuts, the city shuts down). I've been hearing a lot of "we need alternatives" particularly from Cork East Councilors and TD's, where one upon a time it was all "fix de road!".

I think to be fair, there probably is a need for both a Cork North bypass and a distributor. It might take decades, but there probably will be a Northern Bypass in the end because aside from Kelleher's point the North Side of Cork City is pretty much a copy of Galway other than the fact that they left the N route connecting N20 to N8 right through the very centre of the city. Which isn't sustainable.

If we want to Pedestrianise McCurtain street, get bus lanes on Tivoli, develop Horgan's quay fully etc, TII aren't just going to give up on their N route without an alternative. We've seen this recently during the BusConnects, the whole of Corridor A was watered down to nothing to allow the N8 Tivoli to stay dual carriageway: that was all the TII's doing. Similarly with Corridors C and D, the dual Carriageway stays on Leitrim street: we need to give that space back to the city. So HGV movements to/from Ringaskiddy and to/from Blackpool direction need to at least be studied and something needs to be done. Whether that's a big massive greenfield project, or some kind of upgrade of the R635 or whatever (removing a load of junctions?) is a different question entirely.

I suspect the council are fighting one battle at a time by getting the distributor done and coming back a few years after completion to study the need for a bypass. By which time the traffic will likely have increased.

But sorry you're right, to come back to your point, some people are still "roads priority" minded. It's irritating because the same people were nowhere to be found when Bus Connects was getting watered down to oblivion.

National roads are defined by laws, and laws can change. There is nothing to prevent a ministerial order moving the origin point of N8 to Dunkettle, N22 to the Ballincollig bypass or N20 to the Commons Road. Dublin has no national roads in its centre.

The response to An Bord Pleanála’s queries are now lodged and available on their website. The promoters seem to be addressing wider concerns and commenting on how the road will fit in with the wider GTS. Hopefully enough to get it over the line.

That’s from an introduction to the entire suite of documentation which runs to hundreds of pages…

https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/318220

It’s 318220

100% true. They’re the same types who stopped the development of a sewage plant for years in Galway. Galway Bay was literally full of sh1t as indeed are most of the said small vocal group

Not from Galway, but a quick question, where is it proposed the Galway outer bypass would cross the Corrib and the N59 / moycullen road ? Is there land left clear along the N59 for its route? Thks

Really? Ya are going with the Mutton Island sewage treatment plant that cannot be expanded in a sufficient manner to cater for a growing City just 30 years after been built? I am guessing it is your sea view?

For me that's a beautiful comparison of the outcome for the GCRR if its ever built. After 30 years we will also be back to square one again swimming in a sea of cars - just like Galway's Waste Water treatment plant on Mutton Island which is the main reason for the stifling of growth in the City as it cannot now be expanded upon now. Lazy decisions were made on that over 30 years ago , will the same lazy decisions occur again in 2025?

I'm not sure it would be wise for the ABP of today to just rubber stamp it tbh, they have that big wind farm judgement re-the climate bill hanging over their heads. (Appealed currently?)

Surely any judgements they make in the meantime they would want/need to ensure they dotted the I's and crossed the T's in that regard or their appeal failing would negate all their decisions since?

I think they will still rubber-stamp it albeit with a delay.

Just reading through it some more, the EIAR 7.3.2 says:

Similarly, the ‘Do-Minimum’ was updated for this updated EIAR to include the GTS measures advanced since the 2018 EIAR, such as the Cross-City Link which received approval with conditions from ABP on27 September 2024, the construction of the Salmon Weir Cycling and Pedestrian Bridge, the submission of Bus Connects Galway Dublin Road scheme to ABP, and the 30km/h city centre speed limit. The reassessment of the updated ‘Do-Minimum’ alternative concluded that whilst it would achieve more economic benefit than the ‘Do-Nothing’ alternative it would not serve to reduce the existing congestion sufficiently such that the overall transportation issues would be solved. As this was unsatisfactory, this alternative was discounted.

I don't think your "do minimum" is the right thing to be looking at, with regards reference numbers.

Yeah, it’s insane. “It’ll cost upwards of €600 million but don’t worry: it’ll only make the city slightly more car-dependent than it is now…”