M6 - Galway City Ring Road [planning decision pending]

Pursue further bus priority and cycle lanes along all main arteries into the city, figure out the best places to remove/reduce car access to the city core and do it, look at all this traffic modelling you've done for your ring road and figure out where you need to be running buses between for a useful service and up the frequency of those to 'turn up and go' levels.

In addition I'd look at a new corrib bridge (effectively the same as the one proposed in the GRR) but that just connects into the existing N6 and N59 at each end (tie ins at Headford road Junction and the University park and ride respectively) for through traffic and then bus priority lanes over the Quincentennial

The alternative is a plan that has a ring road (not necessarily this one) plus new roads and reassigned road space within the city for public transport and active travel. The reason this project will fail again is that it’s just a road, with no commitment attached to do anything except build that road. But the problem in Galway is that there’s no alternative to using private cars for travel, but there’s no space for those cars in the city, so traffic jams every morning. This road won’t fix that problem - it’ll encourage it. The designers’ own figures say that if this is road built, then in 10-15 years, Galway will be back to where it started with traffic jams every day.

100% this is the problem. For first 10 years it will look like it has worked but with old induced demand in 15/20 years after been built (which ARUP have modelled at least with modal share) the City in 2050 will have the EXACT same problems it has today in 2025. (Factoring in that Ring Road is still 10 years away from been opened )

We need a serious CAR traffic reduction strategy built into ANY new Ring/Bypass Road plan

Light rail, bus and cycle lanes, restricting car usage are initiatives that are are proposed or currently under construction.Some of the anti GRR group are vehemently opposed to any type of road building while others are for a by pass/ring road but not the one proposed.

There is a huge majority of Galway residents who are for the GRR, I would say its 90%+. In the last local elections the most anti GRR party the greens were wiped out,and while they were replaced by the SDs, that party cant give a straight answer on where exactly they stand on the issue, they were vague during the election and are still fence sitting as far as I can see.All other parties are for the GRR.

Yes they do, but we dont need Ryan.😀

I lived near the Cladagh at the time, I remember the scare stories vividly, 200 trucks of shyte rumbling through the city every day,no more sandy beachs at salthill because the causeway would cause them to erode, the BS from the protesters was pure nonsense.

We all encountered floaters while swimming in salthill but then the protesters condemned the people of galway to suffer another 30 years of swimming with shyte.Thank god we have had decent water quality to swim in for the past 20+ years,so yeah Ill take the so alled short term solution, it was far better than the no solution offered by the NIMBY protesters.

The support of political parties is more or less meaningless right now. They have agreed to fund it but GCC & TII cannot come up with a plan which meets national legislation. If the government are happy (correctly, IMHO) to follow the legal/planning process to solve Dublin airport's cap problem, what makes you think they would act any differently when it comes to GCRR?

Serious question: what would you suggest Galway do when all the project work is done, and mode share is worse than it is now? That's literally what their documents are saying, after all, that with all the proposed and currently-under-construction projects complete, the mode share of cars will increase above what it is now.

While your anecdote is interesting but highly unreliable,people bringing up traffic would suggest they want a solution to the traffic chaos,some might even want the GRR as part of the solution,but most voters wouldn't discuss the minutae on the doorstep with canvassers,and I say that as someone who has actually knocked on doors.

At a guess based on the issues you’ve said people raised, the candidate is one that people would have known was an active travel advocate and against the road. Probably a proponent of the whole bike bus idea? It would be known that it was a waste of time talking to him about the road

You posted some anecdotal evidence from your friend,it means nothing.People are not going to tell you I want/dont want the GRR unless specifically asked that question,without that its just vague musings.

I have canvassed many times, most people dont even answer, those that do engage usually have an issue and are waiting to vent to a canvasser/candidate, and then you have the others who agree with you or are already a supporter and promise undying loyalty and a No.1, and you find out later they didnt even vote.😀

BTW Im confident that if we had a local plebiscite there would be 90% plus approval for the GRR,Im not sure a yes vote would be accepted by opponents.

Either way, I look forward to solutions and hope Galway can be a city to enjoy once again.

It was fairly amusing listening to Michael Fitzmaurice wiping the floor with Eamon Ryan on Radio earlier in the week over the GRR. I'm not sure why failed entity Ryan was even on the discussion, but as the green transport minister in office for 4.5 years who failed to deliver one single new metre of railway, light or heavy, his credibility on investment and getting behind modal shift was zero at best.

😀I am confident that there will be no plebiscite,but if there was I would be certain that there would be a precise proposal for public perusal and not just an aspirational catch all proposition for a ring road, I would imagine there would be intense examination and debate here in Galway but the citizens would make the final call.

Correct.

If the growth strategies for all of our regional cities are to be realised, they all need to by fully by-passed by road, AND to have improved light and heavy rail and high quality bus service, AND revitalised public realm projects at their hearts and in new growth areas.

Look at Cork. It is planned to grow more, in relative terms, than any other city in the State. And so it is getting improved commuter rail, with higher frequency and speeds, a light rail corridor with a probable Airport link to be included before long, Bus Connects routes with high quality cycle routes, and also, vitally, the dedicated M28 access motorway to the south of Cork Harbour and a plan to complete the N40 Ring Road to the north, to open up everything out to Blarney and back across to Glanmire.

Its not an either/or discussion. It never was.

As stated earlier 90 percent of the people of Galway city and surrounds are for a solution that solves the issues with traffic in the city that provides the least amount of hassle to them. That solution has always been mooted by those who apparently know these things as being the ring road in some way/shape/form. And the powers that be have navel gazed their way over the course of a few decades during which car use has increased, construction costs have gone out of control and no significant attempts at alternative solutions have been implemented. I know I provided some thinking out lout options that could be implemented at minimal costs while the ring road was continued to be pondered(as did many more). The change from round abouts to signal controlled junctions was the only significant think I can think of.

So we are still in limbo on this and God love the landowners/homeowners who were in the path of it. True limbo for the last god knows how long.

There's no way this project gets done in the next decade. Zero.

Politicians will continue to hype it up coming into elections but it won't get done for a myriad of reasons. Worse still nothing of note will be done as side by side solutions to assist.

A complete farce.

The city council here are as incompetent as it gets and ultimately need to drive the project.