The newly elected Cathaoirleach of Tuam Municipal Area, Cllr Andrew Reddington has welcomed the provision of almost €4 million towards roads improvements in the area.

He was speaking at this week’s meeting of Tuam Municipal Council when he said that the three-year programme would involve the completion of more than 800 small-to-medium projects.

The works were also welcomed by Cllr Donagh Killilea – but he claimed that the Council was “scratching at the surface”, with several other projects in the Tuam area that required consideration.

The three-year roads programme for Tuam involves improvement works Belclare to the tune of €250,000; Gortaleam, Dunmore at €300,000 and Headford at €150,000.

According to Cllr Reddington it will improve road surfaces and while motorists will have to be patient, it will be worth it in the long term.

“We just have to make road surfaces a safer place,” Cllr Reddington added.

The programme gives a strategic overview of some of the largest road resurfacing projects the Council expects to roll out over the coming years.

But Cllr Reddington warned: “We can expect that over three years there will be some element of change in accordance with funding, tender pricing, unexpected deterioration of certain roads and other unforeseen circumstances.

“The three programme is a grounding basis of the annual Roads Programmes in respect of the RI grant, but the annual roads programmes will have a much broader range and number of projects.”

Each year the Annual Roads Programme is presented to members with works programmes from other Sections (for example the Environment and Housing projects).

This bundle of works across the Council forms the ‘Schedule of Municipal District Works’, which councillors consider for adoption (reserved function). This usually happens in late February or early March.

The full Roads Programme for 2025 will still be presented to members of Galway County Council in February or March with the other services works, for adoption.

“We are hopeful that the Roads Section will benefit from increased funding from central government in 2025,” said Chief Executive Liam Conneally.

Pictured: New Cathaoirleach of the Municipal District of Tuam Councillor Andrew Reddington with (at back), Senior Galway County Council Engineers John Coyle and Rachel Lowe, Director of Services for Housing Michael Owens, Councillors Karey McHugh Farag and Donagh Killilea, Executive Engineers Sean Kennedy and Tom Regan. Front: Councillors Mary Hoade, Siobhan McHugh Ryan, Shaun Cunniffe and Ollie Turner. Photo: Jacinta Fahy Photography.