New city traffic plan means agony for commuters

By TONY GALVIN GALWAY City Council's plan to replace most of the city's major roundabouts with traffic light controlled junctions will be an absolutely disaster for the county and a decision they will live to regret when the traffic chaos the move will cause becomes evident. This is the view of Claregalway-based TD Noel Grealish who told The Herald the impact on commuters coming in from Tuam and Headford will be dreadful and add significantly to commuting times. [private] The plan is to replace seven roundabouts between the motorway and the hospital entrance in Newcastle with signalled junctions. Commuters coming in from Tuam and Headford will hit traffic lights instead of the roundabouts they are accustomed to before entering the city. The expected 18 months of traffic jams while the transformation is being completed is already being compared to the nightmare motorists in Tuam have endured since work on their Big Dig began over a year ago. Tuam-based Cllr Tom McHugh said he had little doubt the change would inconvenience commuters travelling to and from the city. 'We spend years trying to get something done about the lights in Claregalway and now the problem is being moved down the road a few miles to the Tuam Road junction. We can see a pedestrian light holding up the N17 in Tuam, what will a whole series of them do at new junctions in the city.' 'The last thing anyone needs now is 18 months more of roadworks to add to our problems. They should take a good look at Tuam before they rush into this project,' he said. To suit city centre Deputy Grealish said he made no apologies for saying that the city plan is solely designed to suit traffic management in the city centre. The controlled traffic management system will be used to shut off the flow of traffic into the city whenever it suits them, irrespective of what chaos it will create on the outskirts. Although it has been opposed by city centre traders, the City Council is determined to push the plan through, despite dissension among the city's elected representatives. 'Take a look at the disaster at Moneenageisha. Taking out the roundabout here was a bad mistake, yet the City Council want to repeat this mistake several times over with this ridiculous plan. It will achieve the opposite effect of what is intended. The traffic flow will slow to a crawl and it's all to suit a few people who want to control traffic in the city centre at the expense of people entering the city,' Deputy Grealish said. He added that he had made this very point in no uncertain terms to Transport Minister Leo Varadkar but he feared the voice of reason was being ignored simply because planners at City Hall were determined to stick rigidly to a plan which was bound to fail. Work is expected to begin on removing the Briarhill roundabout this September and over the next 18 months six more are due to be removed and replaced with traffic lights. The cost of the project is estimated to be €6 million. Those in favour of the change say it will make the city safer for pedestrians and cyclists and that a manned traffic flow centre will be able to monitor where problems arise and coordinate traffic lights to clear backlogs. [/private]