Proposed Active Travel scheme in Galway 'may be ripped up' to make way for bus lane
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New cycle lanes and footpaths planned for the Western Distributor Road may have to be ripped up and replaced a few years after they are installed – to make way for bus lanes serving a proposed new Park and Ride at Cappagh.
Galway City Councillors argued this week that a bus lane should be incorporated into the €7.8 million Active Travel Scheme planned for the WDR, to avoid ripping up new footpaths and cycle lanes later to install bus lanes.
The topic sparked heated debate at Monday’s Council meeting as some councillors were accused of trying to ‘kill’ the Active Travel project by delaying it.
Others argued that the public would not forgive elected members if they allowed the Active Travel scheme to proceed without a bus lane serving the new P&R site proposed by the NTA for Cappagh Road.
The upshot is that Galway City Council will seek an urgent meeting with the National Transport Authority (NTA) to urge it to include a bus lane in the Western Distributor Road Active Travel scheme, which is due to go to construction within months.
The scheme involves investing in integrated footpaths and cycle tracks along 2.9km of the Western Distributor Road, from Cappagh Road to Bishop O’Donnell Road in Knocknacarra, and making five roundabouts safer.
The scheme – without bus lanes – has planning consent and construction work is due to start later this year or early next year.
Derek Pender, Director of Services for Project Development, confirmed on Monday that if the Western Distributor Road Active Travel scheme proceeds as planned, without a bus lane, the NTA has said it will have to remove part of that new Active Travel infrastructure to facilitate a bus lane later.
The Park and Ride is a “white elephant” and an “outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money” without bus lanes
The matter was raised by Councillor Donal Lyons (Ind), who said the Council had granted planning permission last week to the NTA for a Park and Ride car park at Cappagh Road.
Councillor Lyons said that the P&R will not work and is not viable “if they don’t put in a bus lane” on the WDR.
He proposed a motion – backed by Councillor Clodagh Higgins (FG) – that called for “no work” to be carried out on the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure of the WDR Active Travel scheme until a meeting was held with the NTA to seek “as a priority” funding and planning for a bus lane to make the Park and Ride a “viable option”.
Councillors Alan Curran (Soc Dem) and Eibhlín Seoighthe (Ind) said the motion would effectively “kill” the Active Travel scheme.
Councillor Curran said it was “unbelievable” that his colleagues were trying to halt progress on an Active Travel scheme that 83% of people in a survey said they wanted.
Councillor Peter Keane (FF) argued that support for the scheme would be far lower if people knew the context – that new footpaths and cycle lanes would have to be replaced within years to allow for a bus lane.
Councillor Higgins claimed she had been lobbied by text messages during the meeting “not to support Donal Lyons’ motion”. Rejecting the assertion that she was killing the project she argued she was “doing my job” to protect the taxpayer and stop wasteful spending.
Councillor Keane described the Park and Ride as a “white elephant” and an “outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money” without bus lanes.
Councillor Seoighthe said, “We have the funding for it,” and “if we stop it now we will lose the funding” but Councillor Keane said the same reasoning was used for the Crescent Active Travel scheme, which proceeded with changes and won an award.
Councillor Níall McNelis (Lab) said the Active Travel Scheme, P&R, and the future bus lanes were all NTA projects and he wondered whether NTA departments were “not talking to each other”.
Mr Pender said some €875,000 had been allocated to the Council’s Active Travel scheme for the WDR project this year, with more funding expected next year.
Councillors agreed to shelve the Notice of Motion for now, after Mr Pender urged them not to “pull the handbrake” until the Council met NTA officials.
Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Leonard Cleary said Oireachtas members, as well as Councillors and Council officials, should attend that meeting.
In response to a Tribune query, a Council spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday that the WDR Active Travel project has a preliminary cost estimate, including contingency, of €7.84m excluding VAT.
They said it will “provide a safe and attractive active travel route, catering for all walkers, wheelers and cyclists, including vulnerable road users”.