For the city to grow and become more accessible Galway City Ring Road is an absolute necessity. – McNelis

Mayor of Galway Cllr Niall McNelis has welcomed today’s Cabinet announcement of €600 million for the development of the Galway City Ring Road.

Speaking today Mayor McNelis said:

“This is a very welcome development for Galway City. We have been waiting for this for nearly two decades now. Certainly, as long as I have been in politics there has been talk of the need for such a facility for the city.

“As it stands right now it can take up to two hours to get across Galway city in heavy traffic. That is nearly as long as it would take you to drive from Dublin to Galway.

“The Ring Road would allow us to take massive amounts of traffic out of the city, which not only leads to better traffic flow but will allow us to finally implement the kind of public transport strategy our city needs. There is a serious want for better public transport provision in Galway and this City Ring Road will allow us to implement the Galway Transport Strategy.

“What is also very welcome in the plan is the inclusion of another crossing over the River Corrib. This will include two lanes to the West of the city, and four to the East. There are currently just four bridge crossings over the Corrib, with only 3 of these in the city. There are 100,000 crossings made over these bridges on a daily basis. This new bridge will make the city more accessible to the West of the county and Connemara.

“I know that the plan will go to public consultation and there will be some who object to it. While I welcome all contributions and suggestions to this plan I think I speak for many people when I say that this project is a necessity for Galway’s development. Our infrastructure needs to be brought into line with other cities such as Limerick and Cork with whom we have not been able to keep pace in recent years. I am sure nobody wants this to turn into another fiasco, like what we saw with the proposed Apple plant in Athenry.

“If Galway is to compete on a national level for the commercial investment we need to improve our accessibility and our overall transport network. This City Ring Road is an absolute must for Galway.”