Mayor calls for transport initiatives to be expedited
The city will continue to lose business to places like Limerick, Athlone and Castlebar unless transport initiatives for the greater urban area are expedited, according to the Mayor of Galway.
Cllr Donal Lyons – who welcomed the announcement in August by Minister Pascal Donohoe of a strategic transport study – warned that Galway needed ‘to move on quickly’ in terms of infrastructural measures.
“The most important single piece of infrastructure that will take our city forward will be the construction of the City Outer Bypass – if this study helps us in that goal, then I welcome it,” said Cllr Lyons.
He warned, however, that there was plenty of anecdotal evidence over recent years to suggest that the city was losing retail business to centres like Limerick, Athlone and Castlebar.
“It’s not that the city is lacking anything by way of retail choice or atmosphere. Almost everyone that comes to the city enjoys the experience, but it’s getting to, through and from Galway City that presents the problem,” said Cllr Lyons.
Transport Minister, Pascal Donohoe, announced his draft strategic framework earlier this month aimed at prioritising future land transport investment decisions.
He said that a consultation process, that will be in place until October 16 next, was aimed at providing interested parties with an opportunity to contribute to the framework.
‘This work highlights a number of important issues with regard to transport investment. For example, it clearly outlines the value of capital investment in transport, and also the importance of investment in good transport projects,” said Minister Donohoe.
Galway City, along with Limerick, Cork and Dublin, will be examined in the framework study, in the context of growing populations and industrial expansion.
Some of the key issues relating to the city that will be examined in the report include:
• The ongoing growth of the city as a jobs hub for the western region.
• The development of a more inclusive public transport system.
• A prioritising of the City Outer Bypass project.
• The capacity of the main feeder roads into the city such as the N17 (Tuam), N59 (Clifden) and N18 (Limerick) to cope with increasing vehicle numbers over the coming years.
The framework document is available for download here while anyone interested in making submissions should forward them to: [email protected] by Thursday, October 16, next.