County council told it can’t split from city on bus lane scheme

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The county cannot separate from the City Council to progress a bus corridor along the Tuam Road, was the message from Director of Services, Jim Cullen at a meeting of the county council this week. The Director of Services was responding to a query by Councillor Shaun Cunniffe who wants the project for a bus lane from Castlegar to Flemings junction split between the city and county. Councillor Cunniffe said there are delays of up to half-an-hour for buses trying to get into the city at peak times. Mr Cullen told councillors that the city council has submitted preliminary designs to the National Transport Authority to approve funding. Councillor Cunniffe asked the Director if certain aspects of the bus lane in the city looked set to encounter difficulty, could the county council de-couple from the city council and progress its own section. However Jim Cullen said it wouldn't technically work out to de-couple from the city council because the project is being proposed as a single scheme. He added that to try and separate from the city, would put the project ‘back to square one'.