A set of traffic lights in Loughrea consistently blamed for causing a bottleneck rather than solving it needs to be properly sequenced and their location reconfigured, according to a veteran councillor.

The lights at Westbridge have been blamed for some of the worst traffic backlogs in the town and Galway County Council have had repeated calls the problem to be addressed.

Local Cllr Moegie Maher (FG) told a meeting of Loughrea Municipal Council that he regularly spends between eight and twelve minutes at the lights waiting for them to change.

The lights are situated on the approach road from Athenry and close to the town centre just a couple of hundred yards away.

They are located at a junction which is governed by four approach roads, and it is regularly the location of traffic delays, particularly during school times.

“These lights have contributed to Loughrea being a bottleneck at all times of the day and it is not just school times – although this is obviously worse.

“It is all down to the sequencing of the lights at this particular junction, and they have to be changed as a matter of urgency.

“I have received hundreds of calls over the past couple of years regarding these lights and it is just not good enough. It is also having a negative impact on businesses in the town,” added Cllr Maher.

He said that even taxi drivers were not taking fares that would require them to go through the lights at Westbridge as they were taking so long to change,

He was supported by Cllr Shane Curley (FF) who said that there were a number of options that could be considered for this junction.

He suggested that Galway County Council look at the possibility of providing filter lanes and filter lights at the junction and particularly when it came to traffic wanting to assess Dunkellin Street through the centre of the town.

According to Cllr Curley, there had been suggestions in the past to reconfigure the junction so as to allow filter lane traffic proceed when it was safe to do so. Such a facility does not currently exist.

They were assured by Senior Engineer Rachel Lowe that a study would be undertaken with regard to the lights in question and the findings would be made available at the next meeting of the local authority.