From this week’s Galway City Tribune – The Taoiseach will be urged during a visit to the city this weekend to appoint a special envoy to help overcome obstacles on key transport projects ‘plagued by delays’.

As part of a briefing by Galway Chamber, the overwhelming support of the business community for the ring road and the need for urgency on key projects in the Galway Transport Strategy will be impressed upon Leo Varadkar and senior Government and European politicians arriving here.

It follows a meeting attended by more than 70 local business leaders on Wednesday at which exasperation was expressed at the snail’s pace of progress on all projects earmarked to overhaul public and active transport in a bid to encourage people out of their cars and lessen the chronic traffic congestion choking the city and the commuter belt.

This was having a disastrous knock-on effect on new housing development approvals which in turn was worsening the accommodation crisis, the meeting heard.

Chief Executive Officer of the Galway Chamber, Kenny Deery, said a number of key actions were agreed at that meeting.

“We need to make the case for the Government to push for An Bord Pleanála to make an adjudication on the Galway City Ring Road and for it not to sit on their desk for the next year to 18 months. We know they cannot interfere with the decision, but they can impress on the board the absolute need for this decision to be handed down,” he explained.

“We are also looking for some form of special envoy to work with the local authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) on how to escalate and expedite projects such as the Cross City Bus Link and the bus lanes along the Dublin Road and the five BusConnects routes.”

(Photo by Andrew Downes: Joe Smyth of Genesys at Bonham Quay speaking at the Galway Chamber Transport meeting).
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the February 24 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.