Shop Street 'big dig' set to start in March

In the latest advisory from Senior Executive Engineer Jimmy Callan, Galway City Council now expects to notify the successful tender on the second week of February. Councillors had been told in an update late last year that a crew would break ground on Shop Street in late January.

Preliminary meetings will then begin with discussions on detailed plans for the construction phase and contract negotiations with the contractor to be completed.

Anthony Ryan, whose retail business will be one of those affected by the multi-million euro project, said he would anticipate March 1 would be the starting date.

“In fairness, they had said to us they wanted to wait until the work on Cross Street is finished by Irish Water. From what I heard that’s ahead of schedule. The tendering seems to have taken longer than we’d have hoped but we’re anxious they get on with it as soon as possible.”

At a meeting last week with the Galway City Business Association, Council engineers assured traders that as soon as contracts are signed a dedicated client liaison officer will be appointed by the contractor to be the first point of contact in the work zone and give weekly updates. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here.